February 24, 2005

Is it bad if it sells?

Watched Project Runway on Bravo last night and one comment made me think.   In the show, the three final designers presented their clothing lines at a fashion where one would be choosen the winner.  I watched Wendy's show and thought  - hmm, I actually like some of those. Well, guess that means she'll lose.   Kara - elegant, beautiful, but none of it would look good on short, chubby me.  Jay - there was one quilted coat that I loved.   But my thought was "this is strange, weird and I don't get it.  He'll win."  And he did.  But I kept coming back the comment made before Wendy was eliminated - her work was too commercial.  Why is commercial always thought of as some how being lesser?  Clothes that we might actually wear, art we might want to put on our walls, books we really enjoy reading.  Since people actually want them, they're commercial but somehow less valuable?  My writing is pretty darn commercial.  I thought, umm should I write something less commercial?  Would that make me a better writer than if I write stuff that sells?   Somehow I felt that  perhaps I'm not fullfilling my  true artistic potential  if I write  fun paperback novels.   But I like writing them.   So back to book 3 without too many artistic qualms.

Posted by TeaWitch at 16:06:44 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

February 21, 2005

Garden Reading

I've been fighting a bad cold all week, so I haven't had enough energy to do anything related to gardening except stretch out on the chaise and leaf through back issues of English Garden magazine. Now my vision of an English garden is Miss Marple pottering around a flower filled cottage garden where she deadheads the hollyhocks while trying to discover who deadheaded the vicar.

English Garden magazine's view of an English garden is an estate that covers acres of ground and where the owners, interviewed for the magazine, attribute their gardening success to the head gardener. "Sam's been gardener here for decades and his old gaffer before that. We couldn't do it without him." Do what? Well, English Garden includes a little sidebar where these garden owners can give the rest of us advice "keep the garden neat. We always have the peasants mow the lawns at least once a week" or "make detailed lists. Sam keeps lists of exactly what needs to be done each week. We don't know what's on them, but we're sure they're important to a good garden."

Of course every month must feature at least one gardener who, despite wealth and title, works hands on in the garden. "Her ladyship clears out her pond" the caption reads. And sure enough, the photo shows her ladyship standing by a pond with some dripping weeds in her hand. Of course, her ladyship's hair is unmussed, her makeup flawless, her white t-shirt dazzlingly white. And she's angled in just such a way so that the weeds, placed in her manicured hands seconds before the picture was snapped, don't drip on her freshly pressed jeans.

Now, don't get me wrong, I love English Garden magazine. The pictures are glorious. And some of the charm and beauty are in the unreality of it all. Spotless gardens and spotless gardeners. But is there room in the world of glossy gardening magazines for real pictures of gardens and gardeners? "TeaWitch clears her garden pond." You'd see me wearing old shorts and a t-shirt that stopped being white long ago. I'd be covered in enough mud that you might not notice I'm not wearing makeup and my hair would be pulled back in a messy ponytail. It would be the type of picture that would make a new gardener stop and think "do I really want a pond if I'm going to look like that?"
Posted by TeaWitch at 00:21:40 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

February 19, 2005

Nanoedmo

It's the sequel to Nanowrimo.  Nanowrimo or National Novel Writers Month takes place in November and where the challenge is to write 50,000 words in one month. In March there is Nanoedmo.  For Nanoedmo the challenge is to edit and rewrite a novel for 50 hours during the month of March.  It doesn't have to be the Nanowrimo novel, so I'm going to work on When the Ghost is Clear, the third in my mystery series.  Time to hammer that one into shape.
Posted by TeaWitch at 01:21:19 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

February 14, 2005

Witches, Knights in Armor and Wandering Bards

And that was Saturday before I even got to working on the latest fantasy novel.  We had a little witchy get together to celebrate our year and a day of study with Ann.  A garden party with witches, a wandering bard who sang ballads and the knight in rusty armor who stands guard over Patty's garden.  There is no one in the armor, you might say he's a shell of the man he used to be (bad pun groans allowed).  I really needed the weekend to let go of some of the stress from the work week.  And it worked.  Today I managed to shape up a couple of chapters for the fantasy novel.  I may stop for the upcoming week and concentrate on the third in the mystery series.  I think I've thought through some places where I was getting stuck in it.  It's amazing was a good relaxing day can do for a person. 
Posted by TeaWitch at 00:00:00 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

February 05, 2005

The Business of Writing

Publication draws nearer and I'm getting more caught up in the business aspects of writing. I've updated the webside (www.mariedees.com).  I was having trouble with the excerpts to the upcoming books and giave up yesterday when I realized I was getting frustrated and going nowhere.  There's more work to be done, but hey, at least the basics are established.  I'm also getting in on a coop deal arranged by my agent for about 5 of us to get magnet business cards for our books.  The cards will have the Hard Shell logo (the turtle) and each of us gets to list a book.  At first I thought, hmm, where will I distribute these, then I realized - wait a minute, everytime on of the other authors hands out a card, they'll be advertising my book too.  Can't beat that. 

And I got a nice email from my editor which included this "once you establish your reader base, they WILL come back for more!"  So, I'm feeling better because she's had the second book Love is Blond for a few months and I hadn't heard anything.  I wasn't sure if it was just because things have been very busy at Hard Shell or she didn't like the book.  Sounds like she must like the book. 

And Natasha got the okay from Absolute Write  to do an interview with me and a book review.  Cool.  It will be my first interview as an author.  
Posted by TeaWitch at 17:44:17 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |