Reblog: Commitment is the Cure–From “Aspiring” Writer to Professional Author

"It’s been amazing and terrifying to watch the changes in our industry just over the past six years. For generations, there was only a handful of items a writer needed to do. Write a book. Query. Get an agent. Land a deal. Hopefully continue writing more books. Though this was far simpler, there was a horrific failure rate and most writers never saw their works in print."

This post is an excellent read for those of us who are aspiring!

Daughters of the Nile review

on both Goodreads and Amazon
Daughters of the Nile by Stephanie Dray
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

An admission: I'm a dyed in the wool Egypt-o-phile and my interest in Augustan Rome isn't all that far behind. I read a lot of novels about those cultures/time periods. (I also read a lot of non-fiction in the same area.) Most of the novels aren't very good. They either totally blow the history, or they nail the history at the expense of the writing. There are a wretched few that blow the history and the writing.

Stephanie Dray's final volume in the trilogy about Cleopatra Selene, the daughter of Mark Antony and Cleopatra, is the happy exception. Even though the actual historical facts about Cleopatra Selene are somewhat sketchy, Dray beautifully brings to life a woman who stood in the shadows of some of history's greatest legends.

If you want a love story that encompasses a heroine's journey against the  vivid background of Imperial Rome (and an exotic Roman vassal state) and a heroine who wields heka (magic) with the skill of Hermione Granger with sometimes tragic consequences, this is the book (and trilogy) for you.

Unlike many trilogies with only have enough material for one book but stretched to three to satisfy some market niche, I found myself alternately not wanting this trilogy to end and being completely satisfied with how it did end.

This third book can probably stand alone. Having read the previous two books and knowing the bones of the historical story, however, I can't say that for certain. And really, why cheat yourself out of the experience of reading all three?

If I have any complaints, and I have very few, my main one was that at times Cleopatra Selene seemed a bit strident. Of course, that made for a nice character flaw.


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The winner. . . .

. . . by a hair.

Thanks to all of you for your input!

As many of you know, I asked people on my Queen of Heka page which cover they liked best for Queen of Heka. The results were pretty evenly distributed, but the cover on the right was the clear choice.

I am obviously torn between the two images or I wouldn't be asking. I like them equally and for different reasons.

I like the winning image because:

• It is striking.
• The focus is on Isis, and Queen of Heka is her autobiography.
• It shows the vulnerability of Isis as a young girl/woman

I like the non-winning image because:

• It's a classic depiction of Isis and Osiris.
• It shows the great love she has for Osiris
• It shows the fertility motif of the novel.
• It's just plain pretty.

In case you don't remember the choices, here is the original image I posted:

The first image has been with me a long time, and I always think of it when I need inspiration for my novel. However, one of the reasons I have always doubted whether it was the right image was best said in one of comments:

 the left makes me think of those racy romance novels despite how it probably has more to do with the story

Yep. That's the problem. Or at least, it's the niggling doubt I have always had about the image.

The story of Isis and Osiris is one of civilization's great love stories. It fuels much of Queen of Heka's story line, but it is not the entire story. That is to say, the novel has romance, but it is not a Romance novel. (Not that I have anything against Romance novels; this just isn't one.)

One of the nicer results of posting the question, a free-lance graphics designer has offered to help me make the cover more professional looking. Thank you, Donna!

Once again, thanks to all of you. Stay tuned. . . .

My to-do lists

I'm a big fan of to-do lists. Ask anyone who works with me. I have an electronic to-do list that covers everything I'm supposed to do that isn't addressed by some other entry on my calendar. I consult it when I begin each day. I use it to write my status reports. I use it to nag people who owe me topics to be edited. I live and die by my to-do list.

As a result, most people think I'm really organized and efficient. That is the end result, of course. The truth is, I know I'm not very efficient or organized. (I have the personality tests to prove it.) Left to my own devices, I'd forget everything and happily piddle away the day on the internet. So, my to-do lists are mostly in self-defense.

I realized awhile back, however, that the books I buy are another type of to-do list. There are books I think I'm interested in. There are books that I think I should or will be interested in. There are books about things I once thought I might be interested in and might be interested in again. . . . someday. 

Don't get me wrong. I read. A lot. I average 1.5 books a week. Sometimes more if the book is really gripping or I'm sick in bed. I sometimes read two or three books at the same time. Still, against all the books in the world, that's a small dent.

I suppose I could make a list of all those books I want to read, but I'd probably lose it since I can't think of a digital reminder that works as well as the little alarms that go off for my online to-do list. So, I buy the book instead. 

Before the advent of Kindle, I brought home stacks of books from Borders, Barnes and Noble, Half-Price Books, Goodwill, and garage sales. I'm even organized enough to mostly alphabetize them by author last name; hardbacks in the living room book shelves; paperbacks in my office. I occasionally purge a few when I realize I will never read them, but I'm never as heartless with books as I am with shoes. 

Now, I have three Kindles that are slowly filling up with books that I am reading or will someday read. 

All these books are the to-do list of my future life. Proof that I have a future. Sometimes, I think I keep books in reserve against a time when I might not be able to go out and get books or can no longer afford them. I'm a book survivalist. It makes me happy. 

The Love-Artist by Jane Alison
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was initially excited about this book. The opening was catchy and the writing very descriptive. I always like the idea of turning a mysterious actual event into fiction. In this case, Ovid, the Latin poet of the Roman Empire, was banished  from Rome by decree of the emperor Augustus. The reasons for his banishment are not known. Alison demystifies the historical event by making the exile the result of a smashup love affair between Ovid and a witch named Xenia and a plot by Augustus's granddaughter Julia. The love affair, she posits results in Book VII of the  Metamorpheses: Medea.

At some point, I became aware that I was "plodding" through the book. Almost nothing happens on the page, but rather one feels as though one is reading about events that happened long ago. Now, this IS a historical novel, but I want to feel some immediacy when I'm reading it.

The writing became overly florid. Or as one reviewer said: The writing IS lyrical - and many times too much so. You're left floating in a sea of prose and often the ground of reality is left so far below you can't even see it.

Ovid and Julia had no (for lack of a better word) character arc. Xenia was more complex, but rather predictable. In the end, I wondered if one of Rome's greatest writers wrote only because he worried about being forgotten. I suppose if the result is The Metamorphoses, he might be forgiven for that.

I also wondered if people unfamiliar with Augustus's Rome would follow some of the events that are only obliquely referred to? I have read a lot of novels and studied the history of that period, and I was left scratching my head.




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That Liz Taylor/Cleopatra/Isis Costume

The fabulous Liz Taylor costume in Cleopatra is a mash-up of two of the outfits typically worn by Isis.

What Liz wore

This costume comes from the epitome of old Hollywood epic movies. I loved those movies, and I nearly fainted when I saw this costume on the big screen. 

What Isis wore

Naturally, the greatest goddess in the Egyptian pantheon could come nowhere near the fabulousness of Liz Taylor, but she did her best. The first picture is of Isis in one of the depictions of her with wings (not easily seen in Liz's costume, but definitely there). In the second one, Isis is on the throne, and the goddess Ma'at (also winged) kneels before her. (Yeah, the ancient Egyptians did some mash-ups of their own.) There you see the vulture crown and scale-like texture of the dress. 

The movie 

If you don't remember or have never seen the gaudy spectacle for which the costume was designed, well thank god for youtube. Liz isn't actually on stage until about 6 minutes in.

Old Hollywood, what a trip!

Now you know why young Michalea threw a hissy fit to see this movie.

Why I write about Isis and ancient Egypt

A long time ago (circa 1960) in a city far, far away, I had a home away from home in the Quincy Public Library. As you can see, it was an amazing building. I particularly appreciated the location of the children's reading room in the tower. (Thanks to Tiger Imagery for this amazing photo of the old library, which really captures the magic I felt as a child, and for all the other beautiful photographs of my home town.)

There were three books I checked out so often that the librarian restricted me to checking them out once a month; no renewals. One of those books was Cleopatra of Egypt. (I now own my own copy, so this is no longer a problem.)

I might have been obsessed. I recall making a scrapbook of everything I could find about Cleopatra, including a quote I heard on the old Dick Van Dyke show when Rob and Laura played Antony and Cleopatra. (I can't remember if Richie had a role as Caesarion.) Needless to say, I was out-of-my-mind-happy when Liz Taylor made a feature film, and I might have had a temper tantrum to convince my mother that I needed to see that movie.

Eventually, my obsession expanded to include other books about ancient Egypt. Somewhere along the line, I learned that Cleopatra considered herself an incarnation of the goddess Isis. She considered Julius Caesar the new Osiris and their son Caesarion the incarnation of Isis and Osiris's son Horus. After Caesar's assassination and when she fell in love with Mark Antony, she simply adjusted the story to make Caesar the murdered Osiris and Antony the resurrected Osiris. One of the few existing images we have of Cleopatra and her son Caesarion shows them as Isis and Horus on the temple walls at Dendera. And you thought I was obsessed.

With all of that going on in my feverish little brain, I began studying the myths around Isis, which proved to be even more fascinating to me than the stories about Cleopatra. Of course, once you jump into Egyptian mythology, there are gods and goddesses than you can shake a stick at, and all of them have the potential to be a great character. Voilà, you have the beginning of a novel.

How about you? What was your source of inspiration?