Bound By Fire, Coming Soon From LooseId!

A Catherine Noon

Rachel and I are so excited!  It’s official – our book, currently titled Bound By Fire (though that may change as we get closer to the release date) has been contracted by LooseId, the popular digital-first publisher!  We couldn’t be more thrilled.

Here’s a little taste of the book, due out probably this summer (exact date TBA):

Vanya Demidov has been studying to become a sorcerer. During a frightening ritual, he comes face-to-face with a powerful being, the stuff of dreams. He is betrayed and realizes his master is going to sacrifice him in a quest for power. When the spell goes wrong and his master flees, Vanya is left with the summoned creature and no way to banish him.

Nash lives for the day he can mete out his revenge on the sorcerer who once tried to enslave him and who has killed those Nash strove to protect. When he sees the portal open again and King once again within his grasp, he jumps at the chance. When the ritual goes wrong and the portal is damaged, Nash is stranded in human form with the young man intended to be his sacrifice.

Together, they find mutual attraction and a shared goal – to find the evil mage and vanquish him once and for all.

Happy Birthday Noon and Wilder!

A Catherine Noon

Rachel and I decided it was time to grow up and have a real blog, one where we can talk about real stuff – you know, the important things:  writing, coffee, cats, and chocolate.  WC3.

Sounds like a plan.

In all seriousness, we felt it was time to have a non-NSFW (Not Safe For Work) blog where we can chat about our favorite topics, and keep Taurus and Taurus for its original purpose – bringing you snippets, flash fiction, and excerpts of Stories That Make You Late For Work!

I hope you’ll stop on by, because we’ll need your support!  I signed us up for the A to Z Blog Challenge – that’s right, I’m doing TWO challenges!  Why?

Because it’s fun!  Join us!

Pysanky Day!

A Catherine Noon

Pysanky Day is Sunday, March 23rd.  If you’re in Chicago, join us at Pumping Station: One for a day of fun and eggs and art.  If not, stay tuned for pictures and maybe even a video.  🙂

Dog Sledding!

A Catherine Noon

In keeping with our theme of staying warm because it’s cold outside, I thought I’d share with you a story of our dog sledding adventure with Voyageur Outward Bound in Minnesota in 2006.

It all started because my husband complained about the weather here in Chicago. Fitting complaint, especially since it’s expected to get down below zero this weekend. I wanted to do something fun, unusual, and educational. I picked the Outward Bound class because I’ve always wanted to do one, to experience it and challenge myself. The hallmark of Outward Bound is that you spend some time, one night or more, camping by yourself in the wilds. I thought, what better way to learn how to stay warm and have fun all at the same time?

Two weeks before we left, my husband shrugged and said, “Well, if I don’t like it, I can always hang out in the lodge and drink hot chocolate.”

Lodge?

On an Outward Bound Expedition?

“Didn’t you read the stuff I sent you on the [non-refundable] class?”

Blink. “Well, I looked at the pictures.”

He looked at the pictures.

“DO YOU REALIZE WE’RE GOING THIRTY-FIVE MILES ACROSS THE ICE IN THE BOUNDARY WATERS?” Panting.

Another blink. “Oh.” Pause. “So, no lodge?”

Gritted teeth. “No, dear. No lodge.”

“Oh.”

Cautiously, “So, you still want to go?”

“I suppose.”

Rousing endorsement, that.

So we get there, and the first thing we learn is the Heat Triangle. Here’s how it works:

There are three parts to keeping warm in severely cold weather:

1. Layered clothing
2. Food and hot drinks
3. Movement

You can work on any one of the legs of the triangle to warm up. One of the most effective techniques is to swing your arms back and forth like a windmill. This will bring the blood to your fingertips and warm up your hands. I use this frequently back here in Chicago when waiting for the bus or the train.

And my husband? He survived and had an awesome time with the dogs, the cold, and yes, even the hot chocolate.

Cheers!

A Journey Into 3-D Notebook – Hats!

A Catherine Noon

So I’ve been playing with knitting from the top down.  I started a sweater and have been wrestling with it (which I’ll share later), but for now I want to share my newest creation:  a hat!

My first hat was almost a decade ago.  A friend asked me to make a hat for her friend.  I did so.  It was large enough to fit her, her friend, AND me – and not just our heads.  It was not, shall we say, a success.

Since then, I’ve successfully mastered all kinds of things in knitting:  sweaters, sleeves, socks, lace, design…  So why not hats?

I asked myself that and then gave it a shot.

This one is fun because the increases are one-off from each other so that they swirl around the head.  I did the crown with a merino wool, then the sides with an alpaca and mohair blend that’s fuzzy and whisper-soft.

I even like how it looks on me.

And you can see it from the back.

I want to try making another hat that’s a little smaller, so it stays tighter on the head. In fact, I started one, but that’s a post for another day! 🙂

Sunday Box Talk: NaNo and Marathons

A Catherine Noon

It’s the 17th and the month is half over.  I know some of us, myself among them, have not written as much as we’d hope at the bright start of NaNoWriMo.  But it ain’t over til it’s over and there’s still time to write.  It doesn’t matter what happened the past 16 days.  We can’t change them.  We can’t go back and do them over.  We can’t do them differently.  They’re done, and what’s done is done.

So where does that leave us?

Some of us will give up.  We will say, it’s just too much water under the bridge, too much time passed me by and there’s no use.

Don’t do that.

Keep writing.  There are more days left in this month and more words left in your brain.  You owe it to yourself to let them out, to give yourself the chance and the gift of hope.

In running a marathon, experienced runners know what beginning runners haven’t learned yet:  the marathon isn’t won in the first five or even ten miles.  It’s won when you hit the wall at mile twenty or twenty-one and you just can’t run anymore.  You continue, you put one foot in front of the other, and you slog your way through to the finish line.

Life is like that sometimes.  Don’t give up, don’t surrender.  Stay strong; borrow the courage of giants.  You may not be part of Seal Team Nine but you can do what they do:  keep going.  Keep writing.

Keep going.

Keep writing.

Hoo-rah, baby.  Hoo-rah.