Aug
20
Another Booksigning
Filed Under Promoting
This one will be in October, too.
Toronto Romance Writers - which is my RWA land chapter - is having Eloisa James come to teach a workshop, and they’ve arranged a signing for Eloisa while she’s here. Michele Young and I get to tag along and sign our books, too! Long ago and far away, Eloisa and I both wrote historical romances for Dell.
It’ll be October 17, which is a Friday, at noon at the Indigo Spirit store in the Royal Bank Plaza in Toronto. That’s the one in the P.A.T.H. (underground for those of you not familiar with Toronto’s business core) with the big display window and the steps leading up to the store. I haven’t signed there in a long time, so it should be fun.
As always, you can find out about my signings at Where’s Claire?
Aug
19
Hoard & Stash
Filed Under Knitting, Miscellaneous Musing
Dragons, as we all know, have hoard. Hoard - for dragons - is a pile of possessions, presumably precious, stashed in a secure location. My Pyr heroes are no different, and their hoards are composed of the usual gems-and-precious-metals (although some are known to collect stocks, bonds and annuities.)
Dragons are known for having large collections of sparkly gems in their hoards, gems which they refuse to share with anyone. They tend to retreat to their hoard - often secured in a cave - to consider the marvels of the hoard, to caress individual elements, to reminisce about scoring certain gems, and often to sleep amidst/atop their prizes.
If you’re a knitter, this description might sound familiar. We knitters call our hoards “stash”. We retreat to the hidden sanctuary of our stash to admire it, caress it, recall the acquisition of certain gems. Some knitters rub special balls of yarn under their chins to appreciate the softness of the fibre - angora or alpaca will tempt many to do this - and I’ve heard that some will roll in their stash, as joyous as kittens in catnip.
Stash is good.
Stash is fun.
But my stash is growing…
I’ve always had some stash, but in recent years, my stash has taken on a life of its own. It’s as if I feel compelled to hoard yarn, although this makes no rational sense. There are plenty of yarn shops in my vicinity, and I can easily score another ball of sock yarn when I need it. But as I stood at the tent sale at Spinrite last week and watched knitters toss bargain-priced yarn into garbage bags - yes, they give you a trash bag, a BIG one, when you walk into the tent - I wondered whether my stashing is part of a larger cultural trend.
At least I’m not alone in stashing to excess! And I’d rather think that I was caught up in some cultural phenomenon than just, well, weird.
I wondered, actually, whether stashing is a response to something in our world, maybe to economic uncertainty. It would make sense, though, in times of economic uncertainty to hoard things like food, but maybe knitting wool is that central to my existence. (Hmm.) I’m pretty certain that my stash in the past year surpassed my ability to knit it all in one lifetime - I am now officially in a Lifetime Yarn Surplus situation.
Yet, I bought more at the tent sale. It was irresistible.
Part of it is that there is such a tremendous variety of yarn available, and when I find something I love, I want to take some of it home. That’s just pure admiration, and the enjoyment of something beautiful. I’ve collected things before for the same reason. And I’ve always been one to take advantage of a bargain, so yarn sales are dangerous territory for me.
But another part of this collecting is new - when I quilted more, I would occasionally impulsively buy a fat quarter or two in a print I liked but had no specific plans for. This yarn stashing is different. It requires far more storage.
Maybe it’s the influence of these Pyr dragon dudes in my life - maybe I, like dragons, always need more hoard.
But that doesn’t explain all the other stashing knitters in the world, does it?
What about you? Do you feel compelled to hoard anything? What do you stash, and do you know why? Do you think there’s a greater tendency to stash and hoard than was previously the case? I’m curious about this tendency as a larger trend and what all of you think is going on.
Although it is always possible that I’m just weird, it would be nice to be weird with others! 
Aug
18
If you collected Tolkien calendars in the late 1970’s - unlike anyone we know - you’ll know the work of the Brothers Hildebrandt.
If not, go ogle. Nothing like a little dragon fire on a Monday morning!
Aug
15
Star-Crossed Guest Blogging Day
Filed Under Writing, Promoting, Dragonfire
Today, I’m over at Star Crossed Romance. We did a fun Q&A about Dragonfire, and (surprise!) there’s a doorprize.
Go on. Guess what it is. You’ll never figure it out…!
Hmm. Once again, Blogspot isn’t letting me select and link to a specific post (like MINE! LOL). My post is up today - August 15 - so if you visit the Star-Crossed blog on a later date to read the interview, you’ll need to hunt back for August 15 in the archives.
Aug
14
Guest Author J.K. Coi
Filed Under Guest Author
We’re chapter-mates, J.K. and I, as well as month mates - we both have August paranormal romance releases - and she came up with the idea of guesting on each other’s blogs.
J.K.’s new release is Immortal Kiss and her website is HERE. Everyone please welcome J.K. to Alive & Knitting!
Of course, I asked her what else she creates besides worlds and characters…
THE ART OF RELAXATION
by J.K. Coi
I was very excited when Deborah agreed to come on over to my little slice of internet yesterday (www.jkcoi.blogspot.com) and talk about her Dragonfire books. But today it’s my turn, and I wondered what I would say, especially given that this blog is technically dedicated to Deborah’s love of knitting.
But of course, I’m never at a loss for words for very long. Despite our love of writing, and of strong alpha heroes who fall for equally strong, independent women, I believe that Ms. Cooke and I do have a few things in common (if I may be so bold as to say), and I quickly realized that I can contribute something meaningful to a blog such as this.
I don’t knit. Tried it a few times at the behest of my grandmother, and just couldn’t get the hang of it. My fingers won’t move into those positions, and I’m just generally uncoordinated. It’s probably a miracle that I can type as fast as I do. But I do have another outlet, something that I turn to when I’m looking to find a measure of tranquility and respite from my work. While different from writing, it still reflects my need to express my creativity and give vent to my artistic soul.
Stained glass is my “thing”. I started with it even before I was writing. I remember wanting to find something to do with my evenings and the class was reasonably priced and a friend talked me into joining with her. But wow, was I hooked after the very first night. Maybe because this type of art/craft is the kind of thing that you can see yourself doing with a respectable degree of success after just a few lessons, or maybe it’s because once you get started you know there’s a precise, step-by-step formula for getting to the finished product.
First you start with a pattern, which I usually make myself. You have to keep in mind the kind of materials that you’re working with and create your outline accordingly. For example, it’s hard to cut glass in a circular shape. Straight lines are easiest, and you don’t want your pieces to be too thin, whereby the glass will be more susceptible to cracking. You will also want to consider where each piece will be joined to the next and allow for the solder lines.
Once your pattern is ready, you need to make at least one copy of it because you’ll be cutting it up, to paste to your glass and use as a template for cutting the pieces. Once the pieces are cut (using a nifty little scoring tool), you’ll run copper foil along the glass edges, then lay it all out on your other copy of the pattern and start soldering it together with an iron (VERY HOT).
Afterward, it gets polished up nicely and you have a beautiful piece of art for your window, or a lampshade that looks great with the light shining through the different colours in the glass, or in my case—I make Christmas tree ornaments (a quick one-day project for when I just need to work out my writing stress), and terrariums for plants (great mother’s day presents).
Tell me what it is you do to relax after a hard day at work—whether you’ve been writing, or working at the office and you just need to unwind.
Before I go, I want to say thanks so much to Deborah for having me!
J.K. Coi
Immortals to Die for
Please visit me at my website for more information about upcoming books, chats, interviews, reviews, and all things Immortal.
I’m also on MySpace.
I blog at http://www.jkcoi.blogspot.com, as well as with three of my writer friends at http://www.vauxhallvixens.blogspot.com.
PS: Of course I’m going to leave you with some info about me and a little teaser of my second book, Immortal Kiss available now from Linden Bay Romance!
Pick up yours today and find out just why these are Immortals to die for!
Immortal Kiss
Evil lurks in the darkest of shadows, but a band of warriors stands ready to defend humanity against hell’s own monsters—Immortal men hand-picked by destiny and taken out of time hold the fate of the world in their hands.
It has been two years since Baron’s initiation into the world of the Immortals, and during that time, he’s been training with them, setting aside his past to embrace the challenges of his new future…a future without Maxine Deveraux.
Maxine is strong, determined, and loyal to a fault. The last person she wants to have to face is Baron Silver, the man who broke her heart, leaving her without an explanation or even a goodbye. But Maxine gave her word to Baron’s brother Jackson that she’d track him down and bring him home…and Max always keeps her promises.
When Baron encounters a vicious vampire who vows to destroy everything he loves, it doesn’t faze him in the least. He gave up everything he loved along with his humanity. But then the demon attacks Maxine leaving her broken and battered on Baron’s doorstep and he realizes there are still things he can lose…and they are things he can’t live without.
— keep looking »