Books Read in 2010

These are the books I completed during the 2010 calendar year:

Where Serpents Sleep, C.S. Harris; The Last Unicorn, Peter S. Beagle; Talking about Detective Fiction, P.D. James; The Crying Tree, Naseem Rakha; The Companion, Ann Granger; A Mortal Curiosity, Ann Granger; Tau Zero, Poul Anderson; Necropath, Eric Brown; The Lightning Thief, Rick Riordan; Medicus, Ruth Downie; Terra Incognita, Ruth Downie; Kaleidoscope, Dorothy Gilman; Pirate Latitudes, Michael Crichton; The Outback Stars, Sandra McDonald; Heaven's Net is Wide, Lian Hearn; The Stars Down Under, Sandra McDonald; This Body of Death, Elizabeth George; The Girl Who Played With Fire, Stieg Larsson; The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, Stieg Larsson; The Enchanted Forest Chronicles (Dealing With Dragons, Searching for Dragons, Calling on Dragons, Talking to Dragons), Patricia C. Wrede; Too Much Money, Dominick Dunne; The Atrocity Archives, Charles Stross; Santa Clawed, Rita Mae Brown; Cat of the Century, Rita Mae Brown.

Books read with our new neighborhood book club:

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson; One Thousand White Women, Jim Fergus; The Help, Kathryn Stockett; The Hearts of Horses, Molly Gloss; The Beekeeper's Apprentice, Laurie R. King; Mennonite in a Little Black Dress, Rhoda Janzen.

I'm nearing the end of the current book club read (The Forgotten Garden) and already thinking about what book I'll pull off my bookshelf next. I seem to require a book in progress. Even if it's just a matter of making the selection and inserting the marker at Chapter One.

Sunday Stills: Best Shot of 2010

Best shot of 2010? Singular?! Can't do it. Here are my favorites by category.

Favorite photo of Phantom:

Favorite photos of horses owned by friends:

Zorro at CEC

Monty at Devonwood

Favorite horse show photos:

Buddies.

Walking the course.

Favorite seasonal photos:

Spring blooms.

Fall foliage.

Favorite B&W and possibly favorite for 2010:

Park pavilion.

To see more best photos of 2010, visit Sunday Stills.

Another Writing Tool

It is a juicy day in the Willamette Valley. Nonstop rain, clouds stuck in the tops of the Doug firs, lakes of water in parking lots that I thought were pancake flat. But a perfect excuse to hole up with a good book -- either a great read or the one you are writing.

I just learned about another writing "tool" via Story Fix, the blog maintained by Larry Brooks. He writes about and presents workshops on the Six Core Competencies and Story Architecture of novel writing. I found his sessions at the Willamette Writers Conferences to be life savers. So when he referenced another writing aid I had to check it out.

Randy Ingermanson has developed what he calls the Snowflake Method of organizing a novel.

Yes -- this is a fractal.

Ingermanson's method is the reverse of peeling an onion. Instead of removing layers, he adds layers in the process of developing and organizing his novels. Since adding layers to an onion isn't a particularly handy image, he instead uses the fractal.

The first step in the process is to write a one-sentence summary of your novel. He suggests striving for no more than 15 words. This is what many folks call "the elevator pitch." You know -- you're on the elevator with the agent/movie director of your dreams and you have only one or two floors to sell your story idea.

Step two in Ingermanson's process is to develop the single sentence into a full paragraph. In step three he moves on to the major characters about whom he writes a one-page summary.

Subsequent steps expand on previous efforts. Each step delves deeper into the story and the characters. By the time he begins drafting the novel, he knows his story characters inside and out, and has solved many problems of logic with the story progression.

Those with outline phobia will eschew these story development methods. However, both Brooks and Ingermanson suggest that planning up front avoids hundreds of pages of redrafts.

Having ground to a halt on Water Tribute with a case of "muddleinthemiddleitis," I am eager to try Ingermanson's Snowflake Method in combination with Brooks' Story Architecture.

With Water Tribute placed on the back burner (waaaay back), my imagination has been captivated by a different story idea. The working title is The Adventure of the Blood Stone (which will likely be changed to The Curse of the Blood Stone). I'm still doing world building research. I have a list of characters and some idea of the major plot points. I even drafted opening paragraphs when I was held captive in a waiting room one day. I've made a stab at the one-sentence story summary, but I think I need to have the setting firmly established before I begin moving around the characters in their story world.

I already know that writing a novel "by the seat of my pants" doesn't work for me. So I hope this additional tool will help me reach my goal.

Sunday Stills: Hats

This week's challenge was "hats." Given the weather forecast for much of the U.S. -- polar gear will be needed. But here in Oregon's Willamette Valley we primarily deal with wet stuff. Misty mizzle, drenching downpour, sideways saturation -- you name it, we get it.

So those of us who choose to venture out (or have no choice to remain warm and dry) require an arsenal of headwear.

These are my winter dog walking hats. My suede Kerrits cap helps keep up the hood of my waterproof Eddie Bauer jacket. The Outback fedora is waxed to repel moisture. Note the sheltie hair on the brim.

Barn hats. My FITS cap to hide "helmet hair," plus my waxed cotton Outback cap and hat for hiking to the back fence of the turnout pasture where Phantom manages to locate himself when I arrive on rainy days. My knit hat is stuffed in the backpack I carry to the barn full of horse treats and other necessities.

Retired "helmet hair" cap. This one took a tumble into Phantom's feed bucket one day. After thoroughly examining it he determined it had no nutritional value.

To see more head gear, visit Sunday Stills.

Happy Holidays!

Peace on Earth.

Goodwill to All.

Ruthless Christmas Party

Sunday was my first Christmas party with the new Barn Bunch. One of the boarders kindly opened her home to us and we enjoyed a variety of munchies and a potluck dinner. All to build up our energy in preparation for the White Elephant Gift Exchange.

Now, my previous barn held a gift exchange. Participants brought a wrapped gift -- generally something we'd want to keep ourselves. Once at the party we drew numbers at random and worked our way through them. Participants had the option to select a wrapped gift or steal a previously opened gift that he or she fancied. The participant whose gift was snatched then had the option to open a gift or steal one. Gifts could be stolen 2-3 times before they went off limits.

So I wasn't quite sure what to expect of the white elephant gift exchange, since the idea was to bring less-than-desirable gifts.

Well...the exchange started out the same. Wrapped gifts and drawn numbers. However, participants were required to select a wrapped gift when their numbers were drawn. Once they unwrapped their gift, they had 20 seconds to trade it for another opened gift. This began a trading frenzy as panicked participants tried to rid themselves of horrendous gifts before time ran out.

Some of the gifts were actually desirable and changed hands numerous times during the evening. On the other hand, the ho-hum serving platter, two-foot tall ceramic rooster, and garish 3-foot tall trophy were hard to move. It was pretty funny as folks scrambled to be rid of gifts foisted on them, or attempted to pitch interest in the item they were stuck with.

Really -- gift exchanges are not for sissies, regardless of the desirability of the items. So much for peace on earth! ;-)

Sunday Stills: Holiday Decorations

'Tis the season!

Regrettably, we have some old family tree ornaments that are buried somewhere in the pile at the center of the garage, or stashed amid the boxes at the self-storage unit. However, there are certain elements that I like to have on our tree every year.

The dove always goes near the top.

We continue to hope for peace on earth.

The trombone in honor of my father.

The white rose with musical ribbon

in memory of my father and grandfather.

To see more holiday decorations, visit Sunday Stills.