Guest Post: Morgan Keyes DARKBEAST Giveaway!

If you are a regular reader here (and you are, right?) then you have probably heard me mention one of my favorite authors, Mindy Klasky. Mindy is not only a fabulous author, writing everything from humorous paranormal romance to traditional fantasy to contemporary romance, she is also an amazing editor (who helped me become a much better writer, back in my early days) and an over-all sweetheart.

She is also, as of this year, an author named Morgan Keyes. (Writing is the only business where they encourage you to have a split personality!) With her newest venture, a middle-grade book called DARKBEAST, written as Morgan Keyes, Mindy has given us yet another author (and book) to love.

This book is perfect for the younger reader, but make no mistake, this book is great for the adult reader too. I hope you'll help me to encourage Morgan in her newest endeavor, and spread the word about DARKBEAST. Just as we did with my contest last week, go spread the word online or click "like" on Amazon, and come back here and tell me you did it, and I will give away a book to one lucky reader. And Morgan is giving one away too--let's see what she has to say!

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Many thanks to Deborah, for allowing me to visit and tell you about my middle grade fantasy novel, Darkbeast.  Due to the generosity of my publisher, Simon & Schuster, I will give away a copy of Darkbeast to one commenter chosen at random from all the comments made to this post by 11:59 p.m. EDT tonight.

In Darkbeast, twelve-year-old Keara runs away from home rather than sacrifice Caw, the raven darkbeast that she has been magically bound to all her life.  Pursued by Inquisitors who would punish her for heresy, Keara joins a performing troupe of Travelers and tries to find a safe haven for herself and her companion.

When Keara strikes out on the Great Road, she doesn't have a lot of survival skills.  She isn't a warrior, capable of holding her own in any physical encounter.  She isn't a shrewd merchant, able to negotiate her way in any fiscal transaction.  She isn't cloaked in the mystery of her religion, protected by sacred vows (quite the opposite, in fact!)

But Keara has a secret stash of knowledge, information so basic to her life that she scarcely thinks of it as an asset.  Keara knows herbs.  She knows which plants can heal and which can poison.  She has mastered harvesting methods and drying techniques.  She has memorized growing seasons, even for rare plants that thrive far from her home.

Keara's herblore is a gift from her strict, demanding mother.  Even though Keara would be hard-pressed to admit the truth, she has absorbed her encyclopedic knowledge through hard work and constant repetition.  Handling herbs has been necessary for most of Keara's life; it's the only way her widowed mother could support herself and her three daughters.

Throughout Darkbeast, Keara walks a narrow line about the power of herbs.  It is never precisely clear whether her plants work because she has some magical powers, or because she retains ancient, practical lore.  Keara might be reaching out to supernatural strength, or she might succeed merely because she has mastered old, forgotten ways.

While writing the novel, I reveled in this ambiguity.  I did not want to give my heroine the "flash" of magical powers – specific spells that she could recite, concrete potions that she could brew.  I wanted a greater air of mystery, a resonating note of the unknown.

To that end, I varied the herbs I mention by name.  Some, like feverfew, are very real.  Others, though, are entirely made up, with properties different from any plants in our real world.  Readers unfamiliar with herblore might not know what is real and what is created.

And that's the way I like it.  Uncertainty is one of the essential flavors of Darkbeast.  As a twelve-year-old fugitive, Keara does not have all the answers about her world.  (Sometimes, in fact, she barely knows the questions to ask.)  I enjoy putting my readers in the same circumstances, at least part of the time.

So?  What about you?   Do you find it intriguing when an author creates magic tangential to real witchcraft as it is practiced today?  Or do you find it frustrating because it runs counter to your own experience?

Morgan can be found online at:

http://www.morgankeyes.com

http://www.facebook.com/morgan.keyes.author

Darkbeast is for sale in bricks-and-mortar and online bookstores, including:  Amazon | B & N | Indiebound

Morgan Keyes grew up in California, Texas, Georgia, and Minnesota, accompanied by parents, a brother, a dog, and a cat.  Also, there were books.  Lots and lots of books.  Morgan now lives near Washington, D.C.  In between trips to the Natural History Museum and the National Gallery of Art, she reads, travels, reads, writes, reads, cooks, reads, wrestles with cats, and reads.  Because there are still books.  Lots and lots of books.

Guest Blog/Giveaway with Author Alex Bledsoe

As my regular readers will know, one of my favorite authors is Alex Bledsoe, who I "met" years ago when we both had short stories in the Pagan Anthology of Short Fiction (Llewellyn 2008). Alex is the author of numerous books in the fantasy genre (my favorites, the Eddie LaCrosse novels which are a mix between noir detective and sword and sorcery--brilliant!), a couple of classic vampire horror with a twist, and his latest, The Hum and The Shiver, which may have created an entirely new genre...Gravel Road Fantasy (like Urban Fantasy, but set in the back hills.



Alex's writing is like the man himself--clever, charming, and never quite what you expect. For instance, would you have guessed that the author of all these books is also a stay-at-home dad? AHA! I thought not.

Alex and I decided to exchange blog posts. My post on his blog today can be found at http://alexbledsoe.com/2012/01/30/guest-blog-deborah-blake-on-maladaptive-intertia/ and here is Alex's kind contribution to my blog. Please show him some love by leaving him a comment :-) And as it happens, I have an extra HARDCOVER copy of BURN ME DEADLY, the second book in his Eddie LaCrosse series, which I'll be giving away to one of today's commenters.

And then go on over to his blog and say hi to me there, and while you're there, feel free to explore a little...

HERE'S ALEX'S POST:

FINDING TIME WHEN YOU’RE OUT OF IT

By Alex Bledsoe

When people find out I'm a full-time writer and also the stay-at-home parent of two small boys (ages 4 and 7), they immediately want to know one thing: how I find time to write.

Well, here’s how I do it.

There's a certain wisdom to the old adage that you find time for anything important to you, and certainly writing is super-important to me. But it's also a matter of prioritizing, and breaking the task down into its components so that you're not trying to do the wrong thing at the wrong time.

For example, for me actual first-draft, pull-from-you-brain writing requires relative silence and solitude. I try to average between one and two thousand words a day, so to reach that goal, I get up early, between 4 and 5 AM, so that I've got the house to myself. That lasts until about 6:30, when my oldest son wanders in for his daily dose of breakfast and Japanese cartoons. Once I've got him settled I might get another half hour until my youngest son awakes, and after that there's basically no more writing. After I get them to school/preschool, I have another break of about three hours.

At 12 my youngest son gets home, and we pick up my oldest at 3:15. Especially in the winter, it means they're around constantly. However, it doesn't mean I can't use the time productively. When they're underfoot, constantly interrupting and demanding unreasonable things like attention and affection, I'm still able to edit and revise. Working on existing text is easier, or at least can accommodate more distractions, than first-draft writing. So when the kids are around, that's what I do.

When you start so early, you often run out of steam (at least mentally) pretty early in the day. By dinnertime there's not much creative juice left. But that doesn't mean I can't work, because that's when I do my research and reading. Since I'm usually researching something that fascinates me enough to include it in one of my novels, it's fun rather than work. And as for reading...again like the old adage says, you can't be a writer if you're not also a reader. I do most of my fiction reading outside the genres in which I write, something I'd recommend to anyone who doesn't want their genre fiction to read like everyone else's. And I read lots of nonfiction.

And with that, my writer's day is done.

I don't hold this up as any sort of example of how it must be done. Every writer is different; some do their best work late at night, which I can't imagine. Some produce first drafts that are very close to the finished work, something else I can't do or even comprehend. But one thing we all have in common is that we've figured out how to make our writing a priority--not more important, but as important as other aspects of our lives.

BIO: Alex Bledsoe grew up in west Tennessee an hour north of Graceland (home of Elvis) and twenty minutes from Nutbush (birthplace of Tina Turner). He now lives in a Wisconsin town famous for trolls. His books include The Hum and the Shiver, Dark Jenny and The Girls with Games of Blood.

And here are a links to a few of his books. Go get one. I promise you won't be sorry. (Unless you read the vampire books late at night. These are NOT shiny vamps. They are horror vamps. Don't say I didn't warn you.)

Hum and Shiver: http://www.powells.com/biblio/2-9780765327444-2

Dark Jenny: http://www.powells.com/biblio/1-9780765327437-0

Girls w/ Games: http://www.powells.com/biblio/1-9780765323842-2

In Praise of Brilliance

I just finished reading my critque partner's latest manuscript. And it is freakin' brilliant. Not just darn good, mind you. Not even very impressive. Brilliant. She just knocked my socks off.

I've been reading the manuscript all along, so I knew it was good. But the ending clinched it for me. Brilliant. Sweet, poignant, clever, and sad all at once.

Make a note, folks, because you are going to be hearing this name a lot in the future.


Lisa DiDio.

You heard it here first.

Life of a Writer--The To Do List

I know that non-writers and writers at the beginning of their careers are often interested in (or have no concept of) a writer's daily life. Since this topic goes well beyond simply writing, I thought I would start to share the occasional behind the scenes look at my life as a writer.

To start, I decided to post a copy of the calendar I recently made up for writing-related obligations for May-September. Keep in mind that a lot more items will be added to the later months as they get closer. And if you want to be depressed, look at how few of these items have any payment attached ($ sign). Most of them are things I do to spread my name, create a platform, boost sales of existing books, or help out others in the writing community.

Let me know if you have any questions. Which ones of these look like the most fun to you?

Calendar -- Writing Obligations

MAY 2010

Write REVIEW of Embers for Debuts & Reviews (Tia Nevitt)
Write REVIEW of Shade for Debuts & Reviews (Tia Nevitt)
AD for Witches & Pagans (Anne Newkirk Niven) -- Llewellyn?
Redo illustration "Goddess Eye" for Llewellyn/Shoestring (Becky Zins)
Finish edits P & P 2 MAY 31 Send to Elaine Spencer, Candy Havens
[AD for UCCCA and magazine -- ARTISANS GUILD]
Article on Agent Search to Guide to Literary Agents Blog (Chuck Sambuchino)
Enter names for online NEWSLETTER
Talk to Llewellyn editors re: Annuals assignments
Promo new column in Witches & Pagans
General: Blog, Creativity Cauldron, Read CP's chapters and comment

JUNE 2010

Write REVIEW of All Devon Monk books for Debuts & Reviews (Tia Nevitt)
Write Column #2 for Witches & Pagans (Anne N Niven) 1,200 words minimum
"Magick on a Shoestring" Samhain/Yule issue JUNE 30 ($)
June 8 MINI-WORKSHOP "Editing as You Go" on Creativity Cauldron
JUNE 8 Guest Blog on FFnP Blog/Loop (Sharon Pickrel)
JUNE 21 Promo info to FFnP Blog/Loop (Sharon Pickrel)
Write "12 Spells" for Llewellyn Datebook ($)
Write ARTICLES (various) for Llewellyn Annuals ($) [To be arranged]
Do PROMO for workshop on blog, FB, Twitter, MySpace
Do Promo for upcoming release of Everyday Witch A to Z Spellbook
JUNE 28 thru JULY 14 WORKSHOP Online FFnP Loop "Beyond Fangs" ($)
Write and send out online Newsletter (Promo for Everyday Witch Spellbook
General: Blog, Creativity Cauldron, CP's writing



JULY 2010

RELEASE OF EVERYDAY WITCH A TO Z SPELLBOOK!

July 6 Guest Blog on Fang-tastic Books Blog (Roxanne Rhoads)
July 22nd Podcast Guest on The Parafactor (Bett Hamilton) 10 PM 1hr
Promo for Everyday Witch A to Z Spellbook
General: Blog, Creativity Cauldron, CP's writing


August 2010

August 9-15 MINI-WORKSHOP "Editing as You Go" on Savvy Authors
Write Article & Guest Blog for Llewellyn Journal (online) "Witchcraft on a Shoestring"
Promo upcoming release of Witchcraft on a Shoestring
Promo Saratoga appearance
September 2010

RELEASE OF WITCHCRAFT ON A SHOESTRING

September 11 Author Appearance "A Magical Buffet of Authors"
Saratoga Barnes & Noble (multi-author event)

Being a Professional Writer

Don’t let anyone kid you: writing is hard work.

But even harder than the writing itself is keeping your focus, so you can actually get the writing done. I can’t count the times someone has said to me, “I don’t have enough time to write.” The thing is, if you’re a writer—you write.

But that doesn’t mean it is easy to find the time and the focus to maintain a steady writing schedule. Here are some of the things that get in the way of my writing every day, just as an example:

The Day Job (running an artists’ cooperative shop)
Making Jewelry (the day job part deux)
Other Misc. Professional Work (giving tarot readings, energy healing session, even occasionally officiating at a wedding)
Editing & Promoting Already Finished Books – Working on proof edits, consulting on covers, getting blurbs, doing promotion for each new book, and continuing to do things that keep existing books in front of readers.
Blogging
Maintaining An Online Social & Professional Presence (Twitter/Facebook/MySpace) – this one can be a particularly treacherous time-suck…but if you think it is optional, ask any publisher. Mine insisted this was part of the Author duties (and I don’t disagree).
Keeping Up With Other Authors (Networking) – this means checking in on blogs, being supportive by doing things to promote author friends online, emails, etc.
Emails in General – I get as many as 100+ emails a day, about half of which require some kind of response, no matter how brief.
Reading and Editing Work for Critique Partners – my CP’s are amazingly helpful with my writing, but that means I have to be willing to set aside time to help them when they need it.
Misc. Other Writing Tasks – writing articles, giving workshops, maintaining the new loop, doing guest reviews and blogs, etc. – all stuff that helps to keep my name out there…but eats time.
Real Life – You know: cleaning, laundry, shopping, cooking, eating, taking care of the cats, planting a garden, fixing the house, yardwork…all that groovy stuff we all have to do every day.
Social Life – Okay, I don’t have much of one. But I do gather with my Circle twice a month; occasionally get together with friends for dinner, a movie, or a game of scrabble.

As you can see, that’s a pretty long list. And it doesn’t include the unusual events, like a week-long trip to a convention, which only happens once or twice a year. Now. As my career grows, this will become more prevalent.

Most authors have some variation of this list. Many of them have day jobs that take more time than mine. Most have husbands and kids that demand attention. And yet, they still get the writing done.

How? You might ask.

BICHOK.

Candace Havens introduced me to these 6 important letters, but you can see writers all over the interweb talking about them. BICHOK stands for Butt In Chair Hands On Keyboard.

The only way to be a professional author is to treat it like a job. That means you show up to work every day, put your butt in your chair (or on your couch) and you WRITE. No excuses. No whining.

I probably write, on average, six days a week, for 2-4 hours every day. It doesn’t sound like much. But by doing that, I get most books written in three months, and edited in another. In theory, this means I could produce three books a year. In reality, I usually write two, since other writing tasks end up taking up so much time.

But the point is—I write. I’m a writer; that’s what I do. No excuse. Just BICHOK.

Author Mindy Klasky Interview & book giveaway

Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Klasky continues her adorable As You Wish series with this nearly cinematic romantic comedy. When Rebecca Morris's boyfriend runs off with all her personal funds as well as millions of dollars from their theater group's endowment, her friend Kira comforts her with a box of old costumes and a brass lamp that houses a genie. Becca's wish for a new condo lands her next door to playwright Ryan Thompson, whose latest play conveniently fills a gap in the theater's schedule. Ryan and Becca's working and romantic relationships are challenged by an obnoxious show sponsor, Ryan's guerrilla gardening mother, and mischievous gender-shifting genie Teel (familiar from 2009's How Not to Make a Wish). With broadly comic characters, even pacing, and a charming romance, this cozy evening's read will leave readers smiling. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

I promised a few days ago that I would post an interview with Mindy Klasky, author of WHEN GOOD WISHES GO BAD, the book I told y'all you had to go read. Yesterday was the book's official release date, so here is a Q & A with Mindy to celebrate! AND SHE'LL BE GIVING AWAY A COPY OF THE BOOK TO ONE LUCKY COMMENTER! SO GO TO IT!

Mindy Klasky Interview


Describe a typical day for you. How you do get yourself to sit still long enough to complete an idea/story?
In theory, I wake up, send my husband off to work, attend a fitness class at the community center, eat a breakfast of oatmeal and fresh fruit, make a pot of tea, then sit down and draft 2500 words each day. I break for lunch, then run household errands and spend the afternoon reading materials related to my current or next project before making a healthful, well-balanced dinner.

In practice, I'm usually running behind on deadlines for a variety of reasons, some of which are my own fault, and many of which are not. When I'm running behind, my days are a lot more harried: I wake up, send hubby to work, rush through some fitness activity (walking, an exercise DVD), skip breakfast, drink too much tea, write 5000 words, gulp lunch, edit 5000 words, then frantically make dinner from my carefully cultivated stash of "ready in 20 minute" recipes.

Having contract deadlines hanging over my head is a great way to concentrate on completing ideas and stories. I have never missed a contractual deadline, and I'm determined not to do so – even when I'd rather be outside in the fresh air, or lazing around reading a book for fun. My first publishing break came about because an author missed his publishing slot, and I'm not willing to give up mine!

Which do you like better, writing the first draft or editing? What is the most difficult aspect of editing?
I've always preferred editing to writing. I find a blank screen totally intimidating. While I try to avoid being scared off by having an outline for everything I draft, my favorite part of the writing process is creating the second draft of a chapter. Then, I get to roll up my figurative sleeves to get into the nitty-gritty interplay of words, massaging the scene into the best storytelling that it can be.

The most difficult aspect of editing, for me, is knowing when to move on. Because of my aversion to writing new material, I tend to delay when I'm making my so-called, really-this-time-I-mean-it "final pass" on a chapter, convincing myself that I should read and re-read the entire section, every time I tweak one tiny word.

What three books or authors have had the largest impact on your writing?
I suspect that the real answer to this question would be "my Jane and Dick readers" – those were the books I used to learn how to read, and they inspired my lifelong interest in reading and writing. Instead, I'll give a few more specific answers:

J.R.R. Tolkien's THE LORD OF THE RINGS, which infused me with a sense of wonder that has rarely been equaled in my reading life, convincing me that made-up worlds could be every bit as real as the one I live in, with complete histories for every character and place.

Katherine Kurtz's DERYNI series, which I read and re-read in junior high and high school, because the characters seemed so real, and because their moral dilemmas (and yes, sometimes melodramas) captured my imagination and made me long to create my own characters.

Helen Fielding's BRIDGET JONES'S DIARY, which still makes me laugh out loud at the crazy antics of a Singleton in a world of Smug Marrieds.

What fascinating piece of research did you find while writing WHEN GOOD WISHES GO BAD?
WHEN GOOD WISHES GO BAD is the story of Becca Morris, a dramaturg for a theater company in New York. When I started writing the novel, I had a vague idea of what dramaturgs do, based on the essays that I'd read in a variety of theater programs over the years. In order to get a better idea of Becca's day-to-day life, I contacted three prominent dramaturgs at local theaters and invited them over for dinner, so that I could ask them detailed questions about their jobs.

The dramaturgs who helped me were incredibly generous with their time, and they shared numerous tales, many of which made it into Becca's story. One of the key things that surprised me as we all chatted around the dinner table, was how many ethical issues a dramaturg must resolve, particularly when working on a new, never-before-staged play. Of course, I gave Becca every ethical dilemma that I could!


How did you get your agent? Do you work with one publisher or several?In the early 1990's, I completed my fourth novel, a quest fantasy. (I had completed two category romances and one mystery prior to the fantasy novel. All four of those novels will never see the light of day, for which you should be very, very thankful.) The quest novel had better characters and a stronger plot than my earlier work, so I decided to track down an agent.

I used a Writers Digest book that listed fee-charging and non-fee-charging agents. There were indexes in the back, which I used to identify non-fee-charging agents who were accepting new clients and who represented works of fantasy fiction. (No author should ever pay an agent up front for representation; agents should only earn their money on commission from sales.) I sent query letters to my top ten agents, and was thrilled when one, Agent X, agreed to represent me.

Six years later, after I had broken up with Agent X twice (and taken him back), he broke up with me. In those six years, he had not sold my quest fantasy, and he concluded that my most recent manuscript was too flawed to sell. Nevertheless, we parted under good terms, and he recommended that I contact several other agents. One of those agents – Richard Curtis – saw something more in that most recent manuscript. He agreed to represent me, and he sold that book – THE GLASSWRIGHTS' APPRENTICE – in a year.

I have worked with two publishers so far (Roc for my traditional fantasy, and Harlequin for my contemporary comic romances.) Different manuscripts are appropriate for different publishing houses; I suspect that I'll work with several more publishers before my career is over!

Do you have a dream project that you haven't written yet?I have – literally – six projects that are clamoring for attention at the back of my brain right now. All of them will have to wait until I finish the As You Wish Series (the third volume will be out in October 2010), and the Night Court Series (vampires, and lawyers, and Washington, D.C., oh my!), which will start in April 2011.

The six projects include several different genres: category romance, magic realism, YA issues fiction, etc. For now, I'm making notes about each of these stories, and I hope to choose one to complete within the coming year.

What do you hope readers will take away from WHEN GOOD WISHES GO BAD?First and foremost, WHEN GOOD WISHES GO BAD (and the entire As You Wish Series) is entertainment. I hope that readers will escape into the book, enjoy themselves, laugh a lot, and learn a little.

GOOD/BAD has a few "real world" issues running through it. Becca Morris, the heroine, learns a great deal about the world around her – both the local world of New York City (where she discovers the joys and dangers of guerilla gardening!) and the wider world, including Africa (where she learns about the plight of many women who struggle to make ends meet in challenging political and social environments.)

If nothing else, I hope that readers will leave with a distinct sense of which popcorn flavors are good and which are bad. (Yes, there's ample opportunity in the book to explore the bad….)


THANKS, MINDY!!!
I had the pleasure of meeting Mindy in person at last year's RWA, and we have been online pals for ages. (She is also an insanely good freelance editor; I've worked with her professionally and she taught me a lot about improving my writing.) She's just as smart, funny, and sweet as she seems in this interview. I hope you'll take a peek at her books!

Writing challenges and spring

I have a confession to make: I don't usually struggle much with my writing.

That's not to say it is easy, exactly. But for the most part, the writing usually flows pretty smoothly. I don't generate the amount of ideas that some of my writer pals do [at one point my friend Alex Bledsoe was writing seven books at a time--one for every day of the week!], but when I am working on a novel, the writing normally flows with relative ease.

I am discovering, however, that starting the second book in a series is a challenge.

I have written three novels so far (we're not counting the nonfiction books in this-completely different process). The first two were also meant to be series books, and I have notes for the books that would come next, but I've never actually started the second book in either series. [My friend Mindy Klasky says you should never write the second book until you have sold the first one, and I followed this advice. Good thing, too, or book three--which got me my agent--would never have been written. Which is her point, I believe.]

But since my agent is confident that we'll sell PENTACLES AND PENTIMENTOS, I have started working on the second book in that series, tentitively called PENTACLES AND PREDATORS. Here is the problem:

With the second book in the series, you have to remind the folks who read the first one of what happened, while also making it clear for anyone who didn't read the first book. You don't want to bore the first group, or confuse the second one. Nor do you want to have what is referred to as an "info dump," which is when an author basically plops a bunch of "you need to know this" information in the middle of the first chapter--usually to the detriment of the pacing and the plot.

None of this is simple. Or easy. In fact, it is a great big balancing act. I have already rewritten chapter one twice, in fact. After going back and forth and getting some feedback from my wonderful critique partners and writing friends (*throws big kisses to Lisa and Candy*), I think I am FINALLY getting the hang of it. Whew. The rest of the book should go as smoothly as the others, I think.

I guess we'll see. I'd love to hear what other writers have done to deal with this issue, if anyone has run into it.

In the meanwhile, I am really pleased with the way my online writing class is going. As usual, I have an absolutely wonderful bunch of participants and they make it both fun and inspiring to be teaching the class.

Other than that, I am eagerly awaiting spring. The massive amount of snow is slowly melting, and the days are warmer than usual for this time of year (although quite gloomy at the moment). The time change will help, with more light in the evening, too. And the red-winged blackbirds are back!

Happy one week until spring, everyone!

Witches and Wiccans and Pagans, Oh My!

Witches and Wiccans and Pagans, Oh My: A Report from Pantheacon

Last week I crossed the entire width of the country, leaving behind my beloved cats (and my internet connection) and travelling from snowy upstate New York to sunny San Jose. I made this same trek two years ago for the same reason: to go to Pantheacon.

If you are a Pagan, going to Pantheacon is a little like going to Mecca. There are many (over a thousand, I believe, and maybe multiple thousands) Witches, Wiccans, Pagans and other cool spiritually-oriented folk who decend on the Doubletree Hotel in downtown San Jose in February for four days of workshops, rituals, parties, and socializing, all with a Pagan slant.

If you like that kind of thing, you will love Pantheacon.

I have a confession to make; I am not a social person. (Yes, I hear you all gasp in amazement.) I tend to be overwhelmed by crowds and over-loaded by all the psychic energy that goes with them. You will never find me at a rock concert. But thankfully, Pagan gatherings are an acception to this rule. And Pantheacon, for whatever reason, is the uber-exception. I always come away from it with more energy than I went in with.

There are probably a couple of reasons for this. The first is simple: I get to meet my fans. As an author, I tend to sit and write in a vacuum (no, not an actual vacuum…that would be very difficult). Other than the occasional email or Twitter exchange, I rarely know whether or not my books are having a positive impact on those I write them for. But all that changes at Pcon.

This year, I gave two workshops, one on “Crafting and Casting the Perfect Spell,” and the other on “Witchcraft on a Shoestring.” Both went really well, and I had the great pleasure of meeting a number of folks who read and enjoyed my books. I sold a bunch of the books that are already out, and signed them for people until my hand went numb—an author’s dream! And hopefully, some of the people who came to my workshops who haven’t read my books will now be curious and go take a look. As an author, there is nothing more satisfying than shaking the hand of one of your readers.

But there were other highlights as well. I got to have breakfast with my wonderful editor from Llewellyn, Elysia Gallo (we were supposed to have dinner the night before, but she had problems with her flight—a lot of folks had a hard time getting in because of bad weather across the country). We caught up on personal things and also spent some time discussing the cover colors for book number five, coming out in September. I adore this woman, and we only get to meet in person at Pcon, so I was really jazzed to be able to spend time with her.

Another highlight of the event was my invitation to a surprise 70th birthday party for one of the founders of modern witchcraft, Z. Budapest. (I would have blogged about this earlier…but it was a SEKRIT.) Z’s partner Bobbie had asked me and Elysia to lure Z. away from their room with an invite to have a drink at the bar, so Bobbie could get everything set up for the party. And then, of course, Elysia didn’t make her plane and had to catch a later one, leaving it all up to me. The pressure! But thankfully, I managed to pull it off, and when Z. and I walked back to her room an hour later, she was completely surprised! And Elysia even got there in time to get a piece of cake. Whew. It was a huge honor for me to be included in the company of many of the movers and shakers of the Pagan community, and it was all a lot of fun. (And, of course, there was cake.)

One of my goals this year was to try and attend a ritual workshop. I love my group, Blue Moon Circle, and our rituals are satisfying and magical. But there is something truly wonderful about a LARGE gathering of Pagans all creating magic together, and I hoped to attend a group ritual while at the convention. I decided to go to a Brigid Healing Ritual given by Selena Fox, another major Pagan leader (she spearheaded the fight to get the armed forces to allow the pentacle to be used on gravestones at the Arlington National Cemetery). I have written articles for her CIRCLE magazine, but I’d never had the chance to meet her or see her work.

Let me tell you—the ritual more than met my expectations. Selena did a wonderful job of tying together many different styles and approaches, even going so far as to invite a few other folks (including me) to invoke the Goddess in their own particular way. We did healing work for self, then for others, and then for the planet, and followed up by sending lots of energy to a man who is currently involved in a six-year legal battle for Pagan rights. The whole ritual was fabulous from start to finish, and by the time we were done, I was tingling from head to toe. Afterward, I went up and introduced myself and complemented her on the ritual, and she was wonderfully gracious and kind. (And then I got to hang out with her at Z’s party later, which was a bonus. A very nice lady.)

I also went to an interesting workshop on the dark side of fairy tales, given by new Llewellyn author, Kenny Klein. Kenny was a great speaker, and I got some interesting ideas for possible future novels. Later, I went to the vendors room and bought a copy of his book, THROUGH THE FAERIE GLASS, which he was kind enough to sign for me. I also picked up a few gifts for the Blue Mooners at home, including an ABC Book of Shadows for pal Robin’s kids, and a few cool stones in the shapes of cats and bats and such.

One of the greatest pleasures of Pantheacon for me is sharing the event with my step-daughter Jennifer, also a Pagan (and a member of Blue Moon Circle, although she moved to Miami 5 months ago). Jenn flew out from Florida and met me there, and we got to hang out together when we weren’t doing our separate things. As usual, she helped me with my presentations (I always refer to her as “My Entourage”) and made the entire trip easier and more fun. This year I left early to go visit with family in San Diego, so I missed some of the workshops I would have gone to, and didn’t get to meet everyone I’d hoped to. But all in all, it was a wonderful trip.

I highly recommend Pantheacon to anyone who can make it there. People come from all over the country to learn and laugh and love together in the company of those who feel and believe as they do. I truly believe that it is something that every Pagan should experience at least once in his or her lifetime. And hey, maybe you’ll meet me there some year. Blessed be!

Giving an Online Class for Paranormal Authors

**Permission to repost** (Pretty please!!!!)

Online workshop
October 6th-29th
Cost $16.00
Given by Deborah Blake, author of 5 books on Witchcraft (Llewellyn Worldwide) and writer of Paranormal Romance
FMI: http://lowcountryrwa.com/online-workshops/

Witches are the new hot character in Paranormal Romance. (According to RT Book Reviews, October 2009 issue!)Popular authors who write using witches include Yasmine Galenorn, Candace Havens, Linda Wisdom, Kim Harrison, Annette Blair, and Anya Bast! If you're writing Paranormal Romance featuring witches, this class will help you get it right.

October 2009 — The Real Witch: Witchcraft Basics for the Paranormal Author
Presented by Deborah Blake
Dates: October 6-29
Deadline: October 4

Course Description:
Have you ever wondered about the differences between historical witches and modern-day Wiccans? Are you curious about familiars? How do you create a witch character for fiction? Deborah Blake can answer these questions and many more with her class about witchcraft and creating a character practicing the magical arts. You will learn how to create witch characters for different genres including Chick Lit and Paranormal. You will learn how to create a witch with real strengths and weaknesses. You will learn the basics of Wicca and spell casting. You will learn some of the historical views on familiars. You will learn how to write scenes in which your character practices magic and how the character would create a spell. You may not be allowed to turn an agent into a toad, but you are allowed to create a great character for your book!

Instructor Bio:
Deborah Blake is a Wiccan High Priestess who has led her own group, Blue Moon Circle, since 2004. She is the author of Circle, Coven & Grove: A Year of Magickal Practice (Llewellyn 2007), Everyday Witch A to Z: An Amusing, Inspiring & Inspirational Guide to the Wonderful World of Witchcraft (Llewellyn 2008) and The Goddess is in the Details: Wisdom for the Everyday Witch (Llewellyn 2009). She took third prize in the Pagan Fiction Award contest and her short story “Dead and (Mostly) Gone” was published in the Anthology of Pagan Fiction: 13 Prize Winning Tales (2008). She is currently working on a novel featuring a Witch as a protagonist. Deborah lives in upstate New York in a 100 year old farmhouse, where her activities both magickal and mundane are supervised by her five cats.