Fulfilling a 2012 resolution - Romance Scene WIP

My dedication (obsession) to two novels I am working on have kept me away from posting, and many other things I should be doing. So I resolved to post at least three times this year. And Oasis for YA has given me a perfect opportunity to get started. So here goes. Happy Valentine's day, everyone!



Tosh looked at Gavin, her distressing conversation with Malcolm forgotten. Gavin hopped over to sit beside her, setting his Coke down behind the bench.

“Tosh, he’s wrong.” Gavin took her hand. It was the second time he had ever touched her. It made her heart sing. It changed everything.

“I know he is.” She looked up into his eyes as he leaned close. Tingling heat and fluttery butterflies burst from her middle, all the way to her fingers and toes. “But I’m confused. I’ve been horrible to you, but you came anyway. What do you want?”

“I want…” he paused as his arms slid around her. “I want to feel you. All these months we have spent together, and I have never even hugged you. I want to touch you and hold you close. I want to hear your voice as I stare at your lovely face.”

His weight pushed her off the stone bench and onto the ground. His hand cradled the back of her head to keep it from banging against the rocky floor. She felt the tickle of her hem slipping up her thighs as his body pressed against hers. His moist lips, slightly sweet from the Coke, teased her tongue as she melted into the rapture of her very first kiss.

“Nothing will make me forget you,” he whispered as he kissed her again and again. “Think of that song you love so much. However far away, I will always love you.”

“And I will always love you,” Tosh sighed.

End

My Book Trailer!

I have put blogging to the wayside for the past month or two to try my hand at a book trailer. I started from scratch, using a few art pieces from my book. My friend Chris Carrigy, who is a talented artist and musician, was more than happy to provide a music track for it. Thank you Cupc@ke! So now that I have finally finished, I have to say that it was quite an experience, and even though it took me forever to complete (I pretty much learned how to do everything from scratch), I have to admit it was kind of fun.

So here it is. I hope you guys like it. And please feel free to give feedback.

B.

She loved it!

When you are a new, unproven author like me, it is almost as hard to find someone to review your book as it is to find a publisher or agent. I sent queries out to quite a few bloggers who review books, but never received a response. But one blogger actually found me, and I am so glad she did!

The Book Angel, author of Fay-Bay's Books, sent me a message stating how interested she was in my book after reading the sample chapter. I cannot explain how it feels to have a stranger contact you to compliment your work. And if you visit her blog, you can see that this girl reads. A lot! And as a YA reader, this was the kind of blogger I wanted to review my book. Even if the review was not so great, she would be able to give me some valuable feedback on the story.

It was a dream come true to find out how much she liked it. She even placed the review on Goodreads! I considered pasting her review here, but I am going to put her link instead. Please visit her site!

http://faybaysbooks.blogspot.com/2011/04/familiar-origins-by-b-pine.html










B.

My Giveaway on Goodreads

As you can see above, I am giving away a copy of Familiar Origins on Goodreads. I am considering doing a giveaway here on my blog, but I have not decided. Any thoughts or suggestions are welcome.

B.

They are here. Finally.

I wish I had time to go into more detail, but I am working on my HOA's Treasurer's report for tonight. So more to come. In the meantime, here's a peek of what my book looks like in print:

The cover art never fails to impress me. Thank you, Eimi.  (maybe if I thank her enough, she will accept payment in free books :))

The spine is a bit off. But I've seen that in many books.

World poetry day - The Lotus Eaters

 

To honor World Poetry Day, I have to write about Lord Tennyson's poem The Lotus Eaters. This poem has shaped much of my life in a wonderful way!

I first learned about the poem in one of the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. The book listed part of the poem. I don't remember how old I was; maybe nine. The poem intrigued me, and after two visits to the bookstore (I would roam the bookstore for hours while I waited for my parents at the mall), I was able to find a book with the entire poem in it. I was still rather young, so I did not quite grasp the story at the time, but the book mentioned it was based on The Odyssey. So I found a copy of that. And I didn't understand a word.

But, I found books about The Odyssey that were easier to read, and some short adaptations to parts of Odysseus' adventures. And those books got me into Greek and Roman mythology. Which got me into fantasy. Which got me into Sci-fi. Which got me into some really good, thought-provoking reading.

But also, The Lotus Eaters provided me with a once in a lifetime opportunity! In my junior year in high school, I was taking SAT prep courses before school. The teacher was going over vocabulary and literature, and she mentioned Tennyson. She asked if any of us knew any Tennyson poems, so I mentioned The Lotus Eaters and quoted a verse. She was so impressed that I was familiar with that poem (you need to understand that many of the kids in my prep class were considered disadvantaged) that a few weeks later she suggested I write an essay for a chance to be part of an exchange group to Israel, and she would write me a letter of recommendation. I did, and I was selected to go to Israel for a month.

I love reading poetry. I'm not a very talented poet, and I would much rather read poems than write them. There is just something about reading the right prose at the right time from the right poet. Maybe if I were a decent poet I would be able to explain. But for now you will just have to take my word for it.

Anyway, enough about me. Here's the poem:

The Lotus-Eaters

by Lord Alfred Tennyson
(1809-1892)

---

"Courage!" he said, and pointed toward the land,
"This mounting wave will roll us shoreward soon."
In the afternoon they came unto a land
In which it seemed always afternoon.
All round the coast the languid air did swoon,
Breathing like one that hath a weary dream.
Full-faced above the valley stood the moon;
And like a downward smoke, the slender stream
Along the cliff to fall and pause and fall did seem.

A land of streams! some, like a downward smoke,
Slow-dropping veils of thinnest lawn, did go;
And some thro' wavering lights and shadows broke,
Rolling a slumbrous sheet of foam below.
They saw the gleaming river seaward flow
From the inner land: far off, three mountain-tops,
Three silent pinnacles of aged snow,
Stood sunset-flush'd: and, dew'd with showery drops,
Up-clomb the shadowy pine above the woven copse.

The charmed sunset linger'd low adown
In the red West: thro' mountain clefts the dale
Was seen far inland, and the yellow down
Border'd with palm, and many a winding vale
And meadow, set with slender galingale;
A land where all things always seem'd the same!
And round about the keel with faces pale,
Dark faces pale against that rosy flame,
The mild-eyed melancholy Lotos-eaters came.

Branches they bore of that enchanted stem,
Laden with flower and fruit, whereof they gave
To each, but whoso did receive of them,
And taste, to him the gushing of the wave
Far far away did seem to mourn and rave
On alien shores; and if his fellow spake,
His voice was thin, as voices from the grave;
And deep-asleep he seem'd, yet all awake,
And music in his ears his beating heart did make.

They sat them down upon the yellow sand,
Between the sun and moon upon the shore;
And sweet it was to dream of Fatherland,
Of child, and wife, and slave; but evermore
Most weary seem'd the sea, weary the oar,
Weary the wandering fields of barren foam.
Then some one said, "We will return no more";
And all at once they sang, "Our island home
Is far beyond the wave; we will no longer roam."

- Blogpress post from my iPad

Spring? Is that you?

If you live just about anywhere in the United States, you are probably sick of this crazy winter by now. There have been a few nice warm days here, but they have only been teasers. Luckily, I have not seen snow this month. But I know many people who have.

Yesterday I went to get my mail and I discovered a few of my irises have bloomed! There they were, peeking out of the dead leaves from last fall. They are tiny little things, but seeing them changed my entire frame of mind, and now I am thinking about seedlings and planting and tulips and writing outdoors. Those flowers really cheered me up! So I wanted to share them with everyone, as a message that the snows and freezing rains won't last much longer. Springtime is coming, one tiny blue flower at a time :)