Tag: A. Catherine Noon

  • Collaboration

    Romance Divas is back up and running and, from the looks of it, going full steam ahead.  I\’m very excited, since I\’ve been a member there for several years now, and it\’s a terrific resource for writers.

    I\’m very excited to report they hosted an article of mine, \”Collaboration.\”  I hope you\’ll stop by and, if you\’re so inclined, leave a comment.

    Write on!-

  • It\’s a new month already!

    Wow.  I can hardly believe it\’s already June.  What a busy year it\’s been.  Things have gone by so quickly, and yet it\’s only June – not yet half over.  What do you still want to accomplish the first half of 2K12?

  • Release Day Festivities

    As part of the Release Day festivities, I have two posts today that I\’d like to share with you.

    The first, Music, Art, and Writing – How The Three Support Each Other, is at the Torquere Press blog today. Please stop by and take a look and, if you\’re so inclined, leave a comment. (I respond to all comments.)

    The second, A Journal of Two Writers – Thoughts From the Other Side of Edits, is at the Torquere Live Journal.  Rachel and I share our thoughts on the editing process now that we\’ve gone through it.

    Enjoy!

  • Emerald Fire Is Out Today!

    I\’m so excited!  Emerald Fire is out today from Torquere Press.

    The harsh desert world of Persis has developed its own customs far from Old Earth. Keepers are cherished as caregivers and helpmeets to Hunters. During Emerald Keeper Teeka’s first Contract with Senior Hunter Brant, disaster strikes. Brant is killed and Teeka is stranded, surrounded by strangers, and unsure of who to trust. A dark and moody Hunter steps forward with an offer of partnership and protection. Teeka wonders what motivates the scarred and solitary Senior Hunter Quill. 

    Both have hidden motives for agreeing, and both are suspicious of each other. But the Great Valley will force them to work together and build a trust born out of necessity and survival. Between the dangers of the harsh desert and the malice of a hidden enemy, Teeka and Quill must learn to believe in each other to find the truth.

    Pick up your copy today! Emerald Fire by A. Catherine Noon and Rachel Wilder

  • New Shawl Design

    I bought some lovely yarn from Lion Brand, called \”Amazing.\”  The colorway is Regatta, which is a subtle rainbow of overdyed colors.  I decided to make a triangle shawl with it, using a couple different lace patterns and center diamonds from Barbara Walker\’s Fourth Treasury of Knitting Patterns.

    In designing, I first tried a swatch of stockinette stitch.  Somehow, I misread the ball band and thought it wanted Size 6 U.S. and made the swatch with those needles.  It didn\’t look the way I wanted, especially the honeycomb slipped stitch design.

    Then I read the ball band.  Size 9 U.S.

    Oh.

    Trying it with Size 9 produced better results, but still too dense of a pattern when I knitted a simple moss stitch.  I took that out and played with Vertical Lace Trellis, also by Barbara Walker but this time in her A Treasury of Knitting Patterns.  I added an increase stitch on either side of every even row.  Due to the nature of the pattern, I simply didn\’t use a decrease on the one side, but added a make 1 to the other.  While this allowed me to get the correct stitch count, it pulled the design out of shape.

    I\’m going to pull this swatch out, and try it again with simple make ones, while banding the lace with a simple garter stitch edge.  That will let me center the triangle in the middle, keeping the edges straight.  We\’ll see how that works from here.

  • Fabric As Inspiration

    In working with the Artist\’s Way, one of the things we focus on is baby steps.  I am finding that my baby steps are much smaller than I assume they \”should\” be.  As a friend reminds me, \”shoulds\” are poison.

    It\’s frustrating, though, that there are so many relative to sewing.  Putting that aside is difficult.  I went to an amazing fabric store with a friend, the Textile Discount Outlet.  It\’s overwhelming and fun at the same time.  They have a whole wall of fabric that\’s under $4 a yard, where I found a lovely, satiny black fabric with blue detailing that looks Asian.

    The left side of the picture above is the \”right\” side of the fabric, with the black detailing.  On the right, it\’s the dark part with blue detailing.

    I love the way the light falls with the fabric drape.  It had different colors depending on where the light hits it.

    Here\’s a detail of the images on the fabric.  Trees and structures are all over it.  I\’d like to make a long vest or jacket with it, so that it can take advantage of the flow of the fabric.

    Here\’s the reverse; I like it just as much as the other side.

    I find it interesting how my inner Critic wants to fight with my decision, though.  I look at the fabric and doubts surface.  I can see that it\’s my Critic and not something realistic, but it\’s painful regardless.

    What do you do to conquer your own Critic?

  • Writing Conferences and Business Cards

    I am so excited to report that I am three places this week, but two came as a total surprise to me!  I\’m exceedingly grateful to the fantastic bestselling author Delilah Devlin for extending us space on her blog.  I wrote some tips for getting the most out of writing conferences.

    As a part of that exposure, Louise Rose-Innes of Marketing For Romance Writers asked us if she could cross-post our article!  Wow.  What a week, huh?

    Thank you to Delilah and Louise for the exposure.  I hope you\’ll stop by their blogs and let them know what you think; both have a lot of great content that I think you\’ll like.

    Our post on Delilah\’s blog is here, and Marketing For Romance Writers is here.

    Since it\’s May (already??), my Writer Wednesday post is up at the Writer\’s Retreat Blog.  I got asked a question about whether or not we should get business cards, and it got me thinking.  My thoughts resulted in an article (see why questions are so important?), here.

  • A Picture\’s Worth a Thousand Words

    I had another opportunity to feature the photography of Michael Clothier, over at Silken Sheets and Seduction today. I hope you check it out!

  • Earth Day: The Beauty of Everyday

    We are surrounded by beauty. Sometimes, we are surrounded by beautiful things without even knowing it.

    The image I give to you today in honor of Earth Day celebrates the ephemeral and eternal. Taken by photographer Michael Clothier, it is a study in texture and contrast:

    The model is photographed with bath tissue in order to develop the skill, as a photographer, of conveying texture within a black-and-white image where the paper is white and everything else in the image is darker. How do you get the paper’s texture to appear without losing the exposure of the rest of the image?

    Earth Day is like that. How do we look around us at the natural world and realize that we are living on the only planet we have? The polar bears drowning in the Arctic cannot call on the telephone, or email, yet their plight is as urgent as any text message – more so, because if we continue to turn a blind eye to their fate we will soon follow them to oblivion.

    It’s easy to succumb to a numb sort of despair or statis when faced with these kinds of problems. To my way of thinking, beauty is the same way: we know a beautiful painting or photograph, but we are, many times, blind to the everyday beauty around us. The image above appeals to me because of its contrasts: a lovely woman, pedestrian tissue paper, a sense of serenity, and the knowledge of the transitory nature of life in the form of throwaway paper.

    As you go through your week, I invite you to remember you are part of a great circle, and not only the circle formed by this blog hop. It’s important to remember the role we play in that circle, but it is ALSO important to remember that to take solace, to read and laugh, make love and dinner, all of these things are just as necessary to life as is toilet tissue in the right context.

    Happy Earth Day.

  • Reflections on RT and How To Benefit From It

    This week, I attended my first RT Booklovers Convention.  I learned a lot from my experience, and I figured I\’d come up with a list for my next time.  I hope it might help you, too.

    1.  Take backup.  Don\’t go it alone.  Reach out and make contacts, either with folks you know ahead of time or folks you meet there.  People are friendly and willing to answer questions, and sometimes all it takes is a simple \”Are you going to X Workshop?  Can I come with you?\”

    2.  Drink plenty of water.  I know that sounds like odd advice, but the hotel we were in had a very dry atmosphere.  It was easy to get a dehydration headache, and that\’s a simple problem to solve.  All the conference rooms have water and cups available.

    3.  Take notes.  Seriously.  There is so much you will learn, and not always in a workshop.  Don\’t assume you will remember everything later.

    3A.  Write notes on each business card as to where you met the person, what they look like, a few tips to help you remember them.  Otherwise, you\’ll get home with a pile of cards and not be able to place the folks you met.

    4.  Don\’t be afraid to say, \”I need to stop the ride and get off.\”  So many people said to me that they felt overwhelmed.  On the one hand, that made me feel less alone in my own state of overwhelmed-ness, but it also made me realize that we were all collectively trying to bull our way through the convention.  That\’s silly.  The sense of urgency we all feel is silly and unnecessary.

    5.  You have two ears, two eyes, and only one mouth.  Listen and watch more than you talk.

    6.  Have fun.  Remember that not everything is meant to be serious and cool; some things are meant to be light-hearted and frivolity.  Knowing how to keep the play alive is half the battle.

    7.  Remember to be grateful.  Thank you to Kathryn Falk and her team for creating such an amazing, mind-blowing experience.  Thank you to the organizers, the presenters, and the attendees for collaborating to make this past week an incredible, intense learning experience.

  • A Little Somethin\’

    In honor of Monday, I thought I\’d share a little piece of flash fiction.  It\’s posted on the Writer\’s Retreat Blog. I hope you\’ll stop by and take a peek. Happy Monday!

  • The Daily Round: Renewal

    Everyone is busy, these days.  \”How are you?\”  \”Oh, my Gosh!  I\’m so busy.  I have…\”  The litany seems endless.  Work, kids, money troubles, the economy, politics and voting, reading, writing, blogging, promo…  We certainly do not lack for things with which to fill up our days.

    Is this sustainable?

    Many religious traditions maintain that there is a day of rest once a week, where even the Creator took it easy.  What a slacker!  Or, maybe, what a smart thing to do…  Renewal is an underrated task, after all.  We don\’t \”feel\” as productive when we focus on it, we prefer to skip lunch and stay late, working around the clock and burning the midnight oil.  That, after all, is what gets the job done.

    But what if, this year, we try something different?  What if, once a week, we stop?  Turn off all the geegaws of modern technology, banish the television (or at least commercials – the mute button is a thing of beauty, as is the DVR), and really rest.  Just one day a week.  What might happen then?

    Try it, and find out.  After all, what do we have to lose?  Our stress?

    What\’s so good about all that stress, anyway?