Sheila's Guests and Reviews

There's a lovely review of my ebook, Refracted, on The Dubious Disciple today! Just click on the blue link to read it. While you're there, don't forget to look at some of the Dubious Disciple's other posts , especially the one for Friday May 6th, especially if you've ever wondered what the Bible might have to say about the value of pi . Hey, some of us mongrel Christian mathematicians, and even non-mongrels or other curious readers, get pretty excited about this sort of thing. It's nice to know I'm not the only one! Enjoy!

Last week was a bad week. My Mum went back to England after two months here with us. The house feels empty and quiet. Even the washing machine's finally finished its job. Meanwhile my husband reminded me that I need to go back to work if we're ever to earn enough to retire. I'd rather write, but it doesn't pay the bills. Last week did have its good points though. A.F. Stewart wrote a lovely review of Refracted on her blog, and it's a really cool blog too--well worth a visit. Erin O'Riordan posted another lovely review of Refracted on David Weisman's blog (he's got a fascinating post on "leveraging Facebook" there today). It's definitely cool to see Refracted included in a list or Favorite Weird Indie Fiction of 2010, and to be mentioned in the same post as Peter Joseph Swanson ... Wow! He's one of the first indie authors I ever met when I joined Gather all those moons ago. So now it's on to this week, catching up on a gazillio...

I just checked on Gypsy Shadow and my new ebook, Black Widow, is on sale. December 1st seems like perfect timing for Christmas! So if you're looking for a historical read, set in England, with mystical overtones, why not head over there? There's even a sample excerpt so you can see what the story's like.  Black Widow: When Boudicca's sister meets the mysterious wizard, it seems like all will go well for the little British kingdom. But Roman peace demands a high price, and the people are starting to follow a foreign priest. Refracted: The story of a young man lost in the fields of time, trying to remember what he thought he was looking for.

My eBook, Refracted , is in the spotlight over at A.F. Stewart's " In the Spotlight " blog today. It's a beautiful site, spotlighting lots of wonderful books and authors; I'm honored to be in such good company. There's an impressive Amazon associate page too where you can find links for purchases. I'm really grateful to A.F. Stewart for spotlighting me, and I hope you'll all go over there and browse the various posts. Thank you.

Erin O'Riordan, author of Beltane , Midsummer Night, and other books and short stories, has written an amazing review of Refracted on Gather . I'd have enjoyed reading the review even if it wasn't for my own book, and I get goosebumps as she tells me what associations my story invoked for her. Thank you so much Erin! Thank you more than I can say!

The speaker at our writers' group was Ellen Urbani , author of When I was Elena , published by the Permanent Press . She gave a wonderful talk, about what makes a memoir different from a journal,  choice of characters and creation of voice, how an agent or publisher might define truth as fiction, how hard it is to sell books that cross genres even though crossing genres might be what makes your book unique, how current events effect sales and the questions asked in interviews, the need to have answers even when your interviewer hasn't read the the book, and the relative advantages and disadvantages of small publishers over big ones. She was fantastic! Of course, I'll never write a memoir, but I can't use my favorite reason anymore. Ellen said she didn't like keeping a journal, and there was I thinking memoir writers couldn't exist without one. Ah well, so much for that excuse. We led into Ellen's talk by all answering those three questions about our writ...

I'm reading "The Poet" by Michael Connelly. It's a long book--well, relatively long--but I'm enjoying it; It has an interesting mix of first and third person writing that really works! And my husband enjoyed the story--a genuine mystery with complicated thrills--which is why I'm reading it. My husband's visiting family and carrying books to while away hours of traveling. Would he take a kindle if we had one? I'm not sure. There's something safe about dog-eared books; cheap to replace; forgiving when you spill the airplane coffee on them; and they don't mind being dropped while you frantically search through your bag. Besides, if his Dad likes something my husband's reading, it can always get left behind. What will I read next? I have a couple of ebooks on the computer waiting for reviews, so probably them. Though I'd rather curl up on a sofa--those aching legs and arms and neck after that fall. And what will I write next? I'm ...

My first review of Refracted , my first real book--it's real because it's "really" published, as opposed to all those self-published ones; but it's virtual because it's an eBook and hasn't been printed on paper. Still, computer screens are real. So, yeah, like I said, my first real review of my first real book, and it's published here at http://aubcherlis.blogspot.com/2010/08/winner-announcement-and-new-ebook.html , so please go over there and look! Aubrie Dionne is one of my favorite writers, and her Seasons of Fantasy eBooks were my first introduction to Gypsy Shadow--I really enjoyed them. Meanwhile I'm racing to beat that next Gypsy Shadow contest deadline. They have such great book cover pictures for prompts. And there's the local summer bazaar on Saturday, so I'm trying to print off lots of home-made books to put on my stall. If you happen to be roaming near Portland Oregon this weekend, contact me . I'd love to see you there.

I think September must be coming soon. The stores all carry signs saying "back to school." The house empties out. The leaves start to turn... But I'm sure it was still May last time I looked. May... That's when two sons graduated on the same day. We went our separate ways to celebrate then came home again. My weekend's absence from virtual interactions would surely be okay; I'd soon catch up. Then our oldest son moved to Texas and we joined him for the drive (real-life social interactions replacing the virtual for a while). The road trip was great and I'd surely catch up on my networking in June, till July came too soon. A few days vacation; my eBook accepted; edits... excitement reigned. So now it's August and the eBook's officially published and really on sale ( http://ww.gypsyshadow.com/SheilaDeeth.html ). I pack the car and clean out all the "stuff" from corners and pockets as my youngest leaves home. There's a graduation invitat...

Our youngest son, recently graduated English major, has a job starting next week. So now we're packing up his life into the back of a car, and some obscure impulse led me to see if all his boxes would fit into the trunk. It's a two-day drive to his new "home" and I wanted to minimize how much stuff would be visible in the car. There's a computer, of course, monitor, speakers, printer, boxes of books (English major), guitar amp (musician too), numerous guitar pedals, new comforter and sheets (mother's son, I couldn't let him leave home without them), more books, etc... And the amazing thing is, everything fit, perfectly, just like a jigsaw with its pieces falling into place. All these years we've packed him and his brothers up for college. All these years we've struggled with those odd-shaped inaccessible empty spaces. And this year, the last time we ever have to do it, we finally get it right. Kind of ironic really, just as my life starts feeling l...

There's something about rainbows - something magical that makes me view them always through the eyes of a child - something that fills my mind with symbols of unity in diversity, faith in science, beauty in logic, hope in despair... all those falling droplets, all those splitting rays... and soon my youngest son will be going away. He's leaving home for his first grown-up job, first apartment, first time filling in forms on his own. My thoughts wander refracted into a rainbow all their own. Hold him tight enough to let him go. Love him well enough to set him free. Care deeply enough to trust. Then trust enough to pray. It seems almost fitting now that my first eBook's called Refracted - perfect timing that its release should coincide with my need to let go. My youngest son flies the nest just as my scripted baby goes live... Refracted, by Sheila Deeth http://gypsyshadow.com/SheilaDeeth.html The story of a man who gets lost in time and can't remember what he's lookin...

It's a puzzle working out why buying a new computer means my printer won't work anymore. But the printer's a wireless HP and the computer has Windows 7. Apparently HP drivers don't work properly beyond Windows XP - at least, not if you want to go wireless, and not if you want to use double-sided printing. Suddenly my printer becomes inaccessible whenever I switch it on (because the IP address might change). My scanner won't work (because the software "fails to install"). And my nicely formatted books now have be hand-fed page by page into the printer because the new (not XP) drivers scale the image and add extra margins at inconsistent sides of a landscape page (making the middle shift in opposite directions so you can't fold the page). Aghghghg! Anyway, here's a much more interesting puzzle. Just click on it, and a nice little jigsaw puzzle site will let you waste precious minutes trying to solve it. Drink coffee. Eat chocolate... And if you want ...

I was going to write a really excited blogpost earlier this week. I'd just got the latest version of Refracted back from my editor (my editor!!!) and the document was labeled, "Refracted_Final.doc." "Final!" I felt like my book had passed it's driving test, or like I had. So I was running round the house with a smile and eager to get to the keyboard (or the champagne). But our son came home, keyboard got otherwise adopted, and the washing machine adopted me. Okay, so now it's Thursday. It must be time for an excited blogpost. And indeed it is. But now I'm even more excited because I've seen my "final" cover and it's absolutely beautiful! I've read lots of those blogposts by real authors about their gorgeous covers (and felt suitably jealous) but this one's mine. I have a book cover, beautifully designed, and it's got my name on it, and I'm over the moon. According to my new best friends at Gypsy Shadow, the eBook wil...