Publishing Monday: Women of Wisdom book winner

Drumroll please! Here is the winner of Kris Steinnes’ Women of Wisdom anthology:

Congratulations to Mitzi! Mitzi wrote in her comment:

Thanks for the wonderful interview – the book sounds quite good as do the ones to follow it! Looking forward to all three of them. It’s great to know about the WOW conference too – please come to the Midwest!”

Mitzi, please e-mail me at kris [at] kriswaldherr dot com — I’ll arrange for your book to be shipped to you pronto. I hope it brings you much inspiration! And thanks again to Kris Steinnes for a throught-provoking interview and for offering the book giveaway.

If you haven’t read the interview yet, check it out here. Make certain to read the comments — they’re really beautiful. Want to know more? Learn more about Kris’s Women of Wisdom foundation here and her new book here.

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As I wrote yesterday, I’m traveling with my family on the west coast right now. Nonetheless, I’m virtually visiting Arwen Lynch’s tarot blog today, as the first stop on The Goddess Tarot app blog tour. I’ve written a post about tarot in the digital age — I hope you’ll stop by to comment! On top of that, we’ll be offering a giveaway.

(It’s just all giveaways all the time these days!)

• Filed under blogs we read, friends and colleagues, giveaways and raffles, goddesses, publications, tarot and oracles, travels | 4 Responses

You’re invited: The Goddess Tarot app blog tour!

It’s summertime, so I’m currently on the road until mid-August. During this time, I hope to catch up with family and friends who live on the West Coast. Nonetheless, I have my semi-trusty laptop with me and will be posting periodic updates.

Along with this, I’ll be visiting blogs in August to celebrate the launch of The Goddess Tarot app. Already, I’ve gotten some press for the app — check out this article on Brokelyn.com in which I am queried about how to make an iPhone app. But for the tour, there will be much more: articles, interviews, even a podcast, along with giveaways galore!

Without further ado, here is a list of the blogs taking part in The Goddess Tarot app tour:

Monday, August 3rd — Tarot by Arwen

Tuesday, August 5th — New Age Journal

Thursday, August 6th — Only Tarot

Monday, August 10th — The Tarot Dame

Friday, August 14th — At Brigit’s Forge: A Blogue by Lunaea Weatherstone

Tuesday, August 18th — Art NYC: Marshall Sponder on the NYC Art Scene

Thursday, August 20th — Joanna Powell Colbert’s Gaian Tarot blog

Saturday, August 22nd — Owl’s Wings: The Blog of Beth Owl’s Daughter

Tuesday, August 25th — Elizabeth Genco

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BTW, if you haven’t downloaded The Goddess Tarot app yet, here are links to download the free Lite version and the paid Full version. You can find out more about the app’s features and visuals here.

Though it’s only been on the market for a week, already The Goddess Tarot app is garnering great reviews on iTunes. Here are excerpts from what people are saying about the Full version:

I’ve gotten a few tarot card apps so far and none of them can touch the Goddess Tarot for beautiful layouts and smart interactivity. It even has an animated shuffle — so clever!… Be sure to get the full version which has a variety of layouts.”

“Even if you’re not into tarot, this deck is for you. The artwork is enchanting. This is one of my most favorite decks and now it’s even better.”

“This cool app did not disappoint! As well as giving good readings — uplifting without being fluffy — there is also the opportunity to learn about the belief systems and goddesses from all over the world.”

“Kris Waldherr’s lush visuals and intuitive programming make this one of my favorite apps.”

“Beautiful images and soulful interpretations! It offers me a sense of wonder and magick — and it’s conveniently available in my iPod.”

Learn more at GoddessTarot.com.

GODDESS TAROT LITE VERSION	GODDESS TAROT FULL VERSION

• Filed under blogs we read, events, friends and colleagues, giveaways and raffles, goddesses, mythic living, publications, retail therapy, tarot and oracles | 5 Responses

Pop Tudors guest post up!

Have you been watching this new season of The Tudors? I’ve been! I’ve really been enjoying the over-the-top concoction of fact and fancy that each episode brings. We even have viewing parties at my house, replete with red wine and talking back at the tv.

This season has been especially queen-heavy, starting with Jane Seymour and onto Anne of Cleves, played by a very appealing Joss Stone. (Last season’s Natalie Dormer was superb as Anne Boleyn.) Next week introduces Henry’s midlife crisis queen Catherine Howard, who is being played up by the good folks at Showtime as a Lolita-in-a-corset strumpet. (Alas, I’m sure this will upset Alisa Libby, author of the revisionist The King’s Rose.)

Anyway, Showtime’s Pop Tudors fan site has asked me to do a guest blog about Henry’s doomed queens. After thinking it through, I have one piece of advice for these maritally-challenged women: They should cover their heads!

My advice has nothing to do with showing obsequience to God or King. Rather, it’s based on common sense. If one looks at Henry’s wives throughout seasons of The Tudors past, it’s clear that the more covered up the queen’s head, the less likely she is to bite the dust.

Read the rest of my Pop Tudors post here.

PS: Last chance to win a copy of Sandra Gulland’s MISTRESS OF THE SUN. Enter our giveaway here.

• Filed under be-mused, blogs we read, queens | No Comments

Creativity Friday: Interview and book giveaway with Sandra Gulland, author of Mistress of the Sun

This Creativity Friday, I am fortunate to have Sandra Gulland as my guest. Sandra is the internationally acclaimed author of the Joséphine B. trilogy, which has sold over a million copies worldwide and been translated into thirteen languages. Her new novel, Mistress of the Sun (Touchstone/Simon and Schuster) was just released in paperback and has already hit the Canadian bestseller lists; it is the focus for my interview today.

As I wrote in my review yesterday, Mistress of the Sun is an opulent treasure of a historical novel. Set in seventeenth century France, Mistress of the Sun is the story of Louise de la Vallière, nicknamed Petite, who is swept into a secret, decade-long affair with Sun King Louis XIV.

In this interview, Sandra generously shares with us her experience writing Mistress of the Sun—an intensive process that took her eight years of research, travel, writing, and editing. It’s an inspiring look inside a writer’s creative process—a real treasure trove for anyone who’s interested in what’s really involved in writing a novel set in a long-ago time. Not only that, but we’re giving away a copy of Mistress of the Sun to one lucky blog commentor. (Details at the end of this post. However, if you can’t wait, you can buy it here from Amazon.)

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Kris Waldherr: One of the things which struck me about Mistress of the Sun was that you pulled off a difficult balancing act: The novel is both impeccably researched and gorgeously written. (Usually historical novels strike me as being tipped one way or the other.) Of researching and writing, which do prefer? And why?

Sandra Gulland: Oh, a difficult question! I love research — love getting lost in it, either in a wandering way, like a child in a toy store, or in a obsessive, focused hunt for information. But I love the writing — the fictional re-creation — even more, I think. Were it simply the research, I could write non-fiction, but it’s “the bringing to life” part of writing a novel that’s the main focus for me, and the reason for my passion for research.

KW: Related question: What is your research process like? Do you research as you write your novel? Or do you do the bulk of it beforehand? How did your research affect your plot choices for Mistress of the Sun?

SG: I try to be systematic about my research, but invariably I fail. I search out books, and buy in great numbers. Right now, because my husband and I are in a city, I’m making exhaustive use of the library system; soon I’m going to be deluged with all the books I’ve requested. (Some of these, I’m sure, I will decide to buy, so that I can freely mark them up.)

I did a great deal of research before writing Mistress of the Sun, but I also researched during and between drafts. Often I don’t know what I need to know until I’m deeply into a novel.

I didn’t run into too many surprises researching Louise’s story: her biographers have done a respectable job, so I had a good foundation. (This was not the case with Josephine.) Often research provides the answer to a problem. I was disturbed by the way Louise’s good friend Nicole simply disappeared from her life, for example. Fiction requires a certain degree of “wrapping-up” and life doesn’t always comply. Therefore I was both astonished and pleased to discover, in a footnote in the Bastille Archives, that Nicole ended up in Louise’s convent. (Learn more about Sandra’s research methods here.)

KW: I read that you discovered Louise de la Valliere, the heroine of The Mistress of the Sun, while researching Josephine Bonaparte for your Josephine B. trilogy. Can you describe the “aha” moment that
introduced you to Louise?

It was an intense “aha” that led almost immediately to writing a feverish short story (a story that ultimately became Mistress of the Sun). What I remember most clearly was finishing that story: my husband’s company was having a sales conference, and, since we lived in the country, some of the reps were staying with us. I remember emerging from my office shaken, and in tears, having just come to the end of the story — and was quite taken aback to discover men in our kitchen sipping herbal tea. As if a murder hadn’t just happened!

KW: In Mistress of the Sun, I loved how you developed the character of Sun King Louis XIV, who becomes Louise’s lover. Louis is a tricky, complex man, with many personal contradictions. Though Mistress of the Sun is primarily the story of Louise’s life as this king’s mistress, it’s also a recounting of how Louis shaped his mythos, as it were, into becoming the larger-than-life Sun King we recognize from history, and how this affected his relations with those he loved. What was involved in writing his character arc? Did you find yourself falling in and out of love with Louis as you wrote about him?

SG: Louis is, at heart, a good person and a good king, but this combination can be challenging for any man. He was born and died on a stage, so he rarely let his emotions show, yet he was a very emotional man (he cried easily). This must have been difficult for him.

KW: I was fascinated to learn that you involved a book club during the eight years that you were writing Mistress of the Sun. What did they do specifically? Were there any dramatic rewrites which occurred after receiving their feedback?

Some of the changes I made were meaty: I cut one chapter, for example. Other changes were subtle. I dropped hints about the true character of a certain unmentionable person (no spoilers here!) so that what happens in the novel didn’t come as a complete surprise, for example, and, too, I allowed our Petite some vindication. These changes were significant, in my view.

KW: Mistress of the Sun is written in third person; your Josephine B. trilogy was written in first person. Which do you prefer? What was it like to switch to third person, after writing three books from Josephine’s point of view? How did writing in the third person free you? Or not?

SG: I find the third person point of view very challenging. It’s elastic and requires discipline (not my strong suit). I think the first person voice is much easier (if you can find that voice), both for the writer and the reader, but it was important to me as a writer to expand my pallet. Too, the voice had to be right for the story. It wouldn’t have worked in the first person.

KW: Your narrator’s “voice” in Mistress of the Sun is opulent, wise but also dryly witty. I found myself laughing out loud at some of your passages; for example, your descriptions of Louise’s new stepfather
are priceless. It seems to me that you’re using humor to pop any illusions the reader might have about the infallibility of royalty—they’re human like us, only more ridiculous at times. After writing four books in which the ruling classes are prominently featured, what’s your takeaway?

SG: I actually think of myself as a bit of a comic writer, in a Winnie-the-Pooh sort of way. I think I tend to poke fun at people of all classes (think of Clorine, Petite’s maid, for example), but I have to admit that it is delicious fun to aim at the royalty. They take themselves so seriously!

KW: I follow you on Twitter and also read your very inspiring writing blog. You’ve been mentioning outlining your new novel and submitting it to your agent. What’s involved with that? Any advice for aspiring novelists?

SG: Outlining my next novel has been an interesting experience for me. I’ve always had some kind of plan, but I’ve never thought it out in such detail before. (And too, I’ve always ignored the plan.) This time I’m sketching it out scene by scene, and thinking in scenes makes a big difference, I think. It remains to be seen if it helps.

KW: Finally, I’m very enticed by the hints you’ve posted about your new novel’s subject matter. Can you tell me more about what we can look forward to? Will this take another eight years to be published. (I hope not!)

SG: I hope not, too! (That’s one of the reasons I’m giving so much thought to the story before I begin to write.)

It’s a very exciting subject, but a challenging one to tackle. Claude des Oeillets, Madame de Montespan’s maid, is the heroine. That seems like a simple subject, does it not? Not so! She was raised by actors, and her mother was a dramatic star, mentored by the great playwright Pierre Corneille. So there’s all that wonderful theatrical world, which was so extremely rich at that time (Corneille, Molière, Racine). Claude was also the go-between between Madame de Montespan and Madame Voisin, the woman who was at the center of the Affair of the Poisons: again, a big subject. And too, she had a child by the King: another dramatic dimension.

A big story, for sure!

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As I mentioned above, Touchstone Books has generously given us a copy of Mistress of the Sun to raffle off here. To win it, simply leave a comment by midnight, May 21, 2009. For a bonus entry, include your answer to the following question:

Is there a king or queen from history you’d have an affair with? If so, who and why?

(As for myself, I know that I would not choose Henry VIII. Too dangerous! But Louis XIV might be a bit more appealing….)

Only one comment per person; book can only be shipped to U.S. mailing address. Winner will be chosen at random and announced here May 22 in our next Creativity Friday. Good luck to all!

• Filed under blogs we read, creativity, friends and colleagues, giveaways and raffles, interviews | 33 Responses

Publishing Monday: the editing process

This week on this blog is going to be special! Sandra Gulland, author of the bestselling Josephine B. trilogy will be interviewed on Friday about the process of writing her newest novel, Mistress of the Sun. On top of that, we’ll be giving away a copy of Mistress of the Sun to one lucky blog commenter! For the creatively inclined, Sandra has a wonderful blog where she writes about her writing process—highly recommended.

My last Creativity Friday post covered what I call 4 am epiphanies—those sudden “roadmap for the soul” realizations that wake you up in the middle of the night. I wrote about a recent one I had. (For a view of another artist-author’s epiphanies, jump over to Joanna Colbert’s Gaian Tarot blog.) Though I wasn’t very specific with my details, a good portion of my recent epiphanies have to do with my current book proposal-under-development. Which, for those of you who follow me on Twitter or on Facebook, know that I sent the first draft of to my literary agent right before I left on vacation.

That brings me to my subject for today, which is oh-so-important: the editing process.

Just about all book proposals need to be edited before they’re sent out into the publishing world. And mine was no different—soon after my return from vacation, I heard back from my agent about the next steps for my book proposal. At this early stage of the game, what needs to be done is more akin to shaping a sculpture than line edits. I’ve got my work ahead of me!

So here’s what I’m working on now:

1. Lots of research. And this is on top of all the research I’ve already completed.

2. Interviewing experts to support my book’s premise. In other words, research isn’t enough: I need fresh material. In a serendipitious stroke of fate, I’ve already received leads and am following up already.

3. And more writing and editing, writing and editing. Yup, even after all the work I’ve already done!

So I’m torn between exhaustion and exhilaration. Exhaustion, because I work very hard on my book proposals; exhilaration, because the direction the book will be traveling to is a place I was intimidated to visit—until my agent intervened in the best possible way.

It’s going to be a lot of work, though I’m fortunate to have the book’s skeleton in place. But, in this somewhat hostile publishing climate, it’s best to have as strong a book proposal as possible. And I’ve been in the biz long enough to know that this is part of the process for creating a book.

In closing, I leave you another author’s experience of the editing process. This ersatz music video was created by author Lara Zielin, whose YA novel debut will be published this August from Putnam. It’s very funny. In it, she writes. She sings. She frolics in meadows and in the rain.

(Hmmm, for my next book video maybe I need a meadow? And some weather action?)

Lara’s video comes by way of agent Kristin Nelson’s Pub Rants, one of my favorite publishing blogs. Oh, and don’t forget: Mistress of the Sun interview and giveaway this Friday! It’s going to be good.

• Filed under be-mused, blogs we read, giveaways and raffles, publishing | One Response