One of the topics we discussed was living authentically, being true to who we are, not hiding our proverbial lights underneath bushels.  On the other hand, when I started in this business, someone very wise told me to never let readers know too much about myself since no matter what I revealed someone was sure to object to it.

Of course, this was in the days before blogging became commonplace and people twittered the minutia of their lives every minute.  These days, everyone seems to know everything about everyone else.  So what the hay (or is it hey?).

Yes, I’ll admit it.  I am reiki.  I had my first attunement in 2004 and am now an Usui/Tibetan and Karuna reiki master teacher.  A reiki master is not someone who masters reiki, but one who allows reiki to master them.  Reiki is not a religion, a cult or anything else crazy.  We do not sell Amway (well, maybe some of us do).

If this sounds freaky to you, forget I said anything.  If you would like to learn more, please join me at my new blog reiki4writers.  I’ll be discussing energy work and other esoteric topics and how they relate to writing and living the writers life.  If you’d like to join me on my slouch toward enlightenment (can’t go from Bronx girl to Bodhisattva overnight), you can join me at my other blog, on a mission from Goddess.  You’ll meet my alter ego, Devi, the one who’s writing a paranormal mystery.  This website blog will be just for writing announcements and such.

Today, or on any other day, you can use the power of eight (infinity) to clear your energy and rejuvenate yourself. Make a quiet place for yourself where you will not be disturbed. Sit upright but in a comfortable position. Breath deeply from your belly until you begin to relax. Imagine a white light glowing at your base (red) chakra (see chart below for chakra locations and colors). See that light begin to glow red. From that center imagine a ribbon of light flowing toward the front of your body, around your side and into your back. The ribbon flows around your other side, making a figure eight. Let the ribbon flow a few times, growing brighter and more intensely red each time. As you visualize this imagine that your most basic concerns (money, survival issues, fear) are released into the light and burned away. When you feel moved to, disconnect the ribbon and let the light return to the chakra.

Repeat this with the six remaining major chakras as follows:

sacral (orange)–creativity, sexuality
solar plexus (yellow)–power, ego
heart (green)–love, caring
throat (blue)–communication
brow (indigo)–imagination, visualization
crown (indigo)-spirituality, enlightenment

After you have cleared each chakra, take a few more cleansing breaths then open our eyes when you are ready.

This is a much simplified version of the Infinite Spectrum meditation created by Laurelle Shanti Gaia. Ironically, or maybe not, you are supposed to do this meditation daily for eight weeks to completely clear the chakras.

For a fun chakra test, go here.

For me this bears a bit of irony since of the two genres romance is the more restricted. In fantasy you can make your own world in ways you can’t with romance. You can go to the past, the future, a parallel world or one that exists only in your own mind. You can have a love interest if you want, but you don’t have to. You can have a happy ending if you want, but you can also be a bleak son of a bitch if you desire. Your characters can be shape-shifters, vampires, invisible pixie-like ‘droids if you want them to. So why so much conformity?

Part of the reason, I’m sure, is that unlike pure fantasy, fantasy publishing exists in the real world where what is expected to be a success tomorrow is the thing that was a success yesterday. The mantra tends to be give me exactly what I had yesterday, except just different enough not to incite cries of plagiarism. I mean how many versions of The Incredible Hulk do we really need.

I think it’s also true that people write what they’ve seen and liked and thought they could put their own spin on. Hey, the Bard of Avon did it. His Romeo and Juliet is based on another work Romeo and Giuliet (I think that’s how it was spelled, but it’s been a long time since I took that Shakespeare course). To the Elizabethan (and other minds) the true merit of a story was not its originality by the skill the author showed in telling their version of the tale.

vs.

Given the recent spate of remakes of previous works everywhere from the movie theatre to the bookstore to Broadway, it appears the do-over is de rigeur.

So that begs the question, what to steal and what to leave behind? Here are a few websites to help you decide. Each features cliches to avoid.

What cliches do you hate seeing in science fiction/fantasy/paranormal works? What would you like to see more of? Inquiring writers want to know!

It’s scary really–not because there are any spooks or goblins running around in the story, but because this book is something I haven’t found in a while–a true book of the heart. My first book, Spellbound (which will be reprinted in October by Parker Publishing), was my first book of the heart, a labor of love for the island (Martha’s Vineyard) that I loved, for the people who’d shared part of my youth (many of whom assumed they were someone in the story) and for the occult lover in me (are the women in this family witches? Only their familiar knows for sure).

As the average writer and they’ll tell you a book of the heart is a rare thing. If you’ve ever had the feeling that you were put on this earth to do a particular thing, that’s close to how a writer feels about that “heart” book. Or maybe it’s like salmon returning to their home stream to spawn–produce or die trying. But finishing this story feels like a biological imperative; the fingers to the keyboard are the labor pains.

Anyway, I’m back to writing now. But if you’ve got a book of the heart you’re working on, tell me a little bit about it. What makes it a book you just have to write?

Angela T. over at Romancing the Blog asks roughly the same question. She’s comparing traditional romances, with their emphasis sometimes on male angst and the bumper crop of urban fantasies we’ve all been enjoying.

Despite the inherent differences between romance novels and urban fantasies, I feel there is room for complementary character arcs. And can we get rid of the word “bitch” regarding heroines who refuse to acquiesce to the hero’s journey?

Can I get an amen, folks? It puts me in mind of the end of the last movie of the second batch of Star Wars sagas (which is really the third story–damn George Lucas). I will NEVER watch another blessed thing the man makes after he took kick-ass QUEEN Amidala and turned into some wimpy-assed wuss that would allow herself to DIE, leaving her children to be raised by God only knows who, simply because the man she loved turned out to be a bastard. Come on, people. If every woman whose guy turned out to be a jerk wasted away the streets would be littered with female corpses.

Anyway, I digress. I’m still not over that travesty, but we’re talking romances here. Why can’t it be that both hero AND heroine have their own story arcs, their own desires, their own goals and let the man’s be subordinate for a change without him being a wimp and her being a, well, you know. I think it’s time we women allowed ourselves to be as unabashedly strong in fiction as we must be in our everyday lives without feeling the need to apologize for it or push the man out in front and say, but he’s the real hero. Like with anything else, if you don’t use it, you lose it and that includes our own impulses to see ourselves as heroic.

A little laughter is good for the blood!
THE PROS & CONS OF DATING A VAMPIRE

Pro
———–
Long relationships
Allowed to stay out late
Easy weight loss
Centuries of experience
Immune to all diseases
Always has amazing stamina
Loves neck nibbling
Rarely interested in arguing religion
Never comes home with garlic breath
Doesn’t snore; sleeps like the dead

Con
———–
You always feel tired (loss of blood)
Kissing can be lethal
Monogamy is a problem
Always has cold feet and hands
Pet names that give you chills
Strange friends
Giggles at funerals
Hard to win an argument
May forget own strength

Author Unknown

Caridad is visiting today as part of her Virtual Book Tour for her latest offering, Blood Calls. If you like vampire, Caridad’s got it, plus steamy, sexy romance. In case you were wondering how it is on the Latina end of the literary pool, Caridad knows all and tells all. Enjoy!

The State of Latina Fiction Today by Caridad Pineiro

I was one of the launch authors for Encanto, the Latina romance line, in 1999. Encanto was a wonderful idea that couldn’t quite find a foothold in the publishing world and folded just two years later in 2001.

Why didn’t Latina fiction take off with Encanto?

1. Booksellers didn’t know where to place the books which originally contained the stories in both English and Spanish.
2. Latinos had never had a place in chain bookstores and therefore, didn’t think to visit such bookstores for Latino/Spanish Language reading matter. Readers were more comfortable picking up that kind of reading matter at a local bodega.
3. Distribution to traditional bookstores seemed to be difficult.
4. Latinos don’t read.
5. The quality of the Encanto books reflected that the writers had only been selected because they were Latino and weren’t good writers.
6. The stories weren’t Latino-enough.
7. We don’t have Latinos in _____________ (fill in the name of a town).

Those last four on the list were comments that many of the Encanto writers faced when trying to schedule book signings or which appeared in assorted reviews. Part prejudice-part ignorance, but difficult to deal with as a writer. I don’t think any of the Encanto writers intended to become poster children for Latino fiction, but we did become just that in 1999.

It’s now 2007 and is the state of Latina fiction any better?

Definitely. Many of the ground-breaking women of Encanto have gone on to success in both fiction and non-fiction so reason number 5 above was definitely way off the mark. THE DIRTY GIRLS SOCIAL CLUB and other successful commercial Latina fiction have opened a crack in the wall of the publishing world for Latina writers, but there’s still a good way to go before Latina fiction becomes accepted as a commercially viable genre.

Where do booksellers place Latina fiction today?

It depends in part on the individual bookstore. In areas were there are Latino sections, you may find books by Latino authors. Unfortunately, many of these “Latino” sections are generally stuffed with Spanish translations of non-Latino books or books by non-Latinos who happen to write in Spanish, like Isabel Allende.

Why do I call Allende a non-Latino? Because by my definition, Latino works highlight the culture of Hispanics in the United States. Latino culture is a melding of the Hispanic with the American. Books by Allende and others just don’t reflect that Latino culture in the United States. So if you pull all those translations and non-Latino books from the Latino section, you may find just a smattering of books by Latino authors. For a fascinating discussion on whether such literary segregation should even occur, please check out this discussion at Romancing the Blog.

The other part of what will determine where a Latino book will be shelved is the publisher and how they market and title the book. If they stress the Latino aspects, you may find yourself in a Latino section if the bookstore has one. If they don’t, chances are you’ll be shelved in either the romance or fiction section. Is that good or bad? For many Latina writers, being shelved along similar genre works is a definite plus as it expands their likely reader base beyond the Latino niche the publisher was attempting to reach.

That’s definitely a good thing. My vampire books in THE CALLING series from Silhouette have always been shelved along with all the other paranormals even though the books feature Latino characters. That’s helped me establish a wider reading audience, but as well, it’s helped me spread a bit of my Latino culture to people who might not have already experienced it.

Part of the reason I write with Latina characters is to show that Latinos are here and part of the mainstream. It’s hopefully helping to eat away at the “brown out” of Latinos in the media.

Is there still prejudice about Latina fiction? The prejudice is actually not what you might think. Oftentimes selling one of my books is harder not because the book contains Latinos, but because it’s a romance. I’ve had many a reader walk away once they realized the books were romances. It’s hard to handle that, in particular when it’s a Latina walking away. Why? Because without support from fellow Latinas it will be that much harder to convince the publishing world that Latina fiction is commercially viable.

Do Latinas support Latina fiction? Thanks to wonderful magazines like CATALINA which established the first Latina online book club, support is rapidly growing for Latina fiction. However, I find that at traditional book signings, such as the one that recently occurred at the RT Convention in Houston, I still sell more books to non-Latinos. Despite that, I have Latina support from a number of wonderful fans who are regulars at my blog, websites and book signings. I think that as more and more Latina fiction is out there for readers, and as they are made aware of it by the media, support will continue to grow.

Are there avenues for you to get published if you are writing Latina fiction? There are more and more publishers looking for Latina fiction. However, I recommend that you not limit yourself by choosing publishers that will specifically put you in the Latina fiction genre. A good story is a good story no matter the color or ethnicity of the characters. Pitch your book to any publisher that is interested in the kind of story you have written.

I hope my comments have been helpful and I look forward to receiving any questions or comments you might have.

Please leave Caridad a comment to let her know how much you enjoy her post. Visit her website; read her blog.

Physicists figured out the complex mathematical equations for making objects invisible by bending light around them last year.

A group of engineers at Purdue University in Indiana have now used those calculations to design a relatively simple device that ought to be able to – one day soon – make objects as big as an airplane simply disappear.

David Copperfield and friends must be quaking in their boots about now.

Many thoughts run through my mind as I watch this movie, the foremost of which is watching it year after year with my two sisters to the point where we could recite all the dialog if we wanted to (incidentally, both of them watched it in their own homes, too.) I remember going to The Bottom Line comedy club with my then boyfriend (now my husband) for a Billy Crystal performance in which he pointed out the miscasting of Vincent Price, Yul Brynner and–most dramatically–Edward G. Robinson as Dathan the overseer (Where’s your Messiah now, see?). Folks, you’ve got to have a little age on you to appreciate the jokes here.

Most of all, I started thinking about the implausibility of the Moses story itself.

A couple of years ago my mother went to Egypt with a group being led by the famous, or perhaps infamous is a better descriptor, black Egyptologist Dr. Ben (more formally known as Dr. Yosef ben-Jochannan). According to Dr. Ben, the Moses story never happened, at least not the way it is claimed in the bible. If the Pharoah sneezed there was someone there to record the event in stone. Nothing in the records indicates anyone named Moses lived in the time of this particular set of Seti and son Ramses. And in case you want to argue that Moses’ name was ordered stricken from all public records, there was no record of any Hebrew slaves existent or set free around this time either. A little while back even theologians having nothing to do with ancient Egypt agreed the Exodus story was false. So what does that mean for Moses?

Hopefully nothing. The story of Moses, whether true, false or misrepresented is one of the most powerful themes in the canon of world myth–that of the man willing to give up the world he knows for a noble quest. It is the essence of that hero’s journey we writers talk about. We see it time and time again from ancient Greek epics to Arthur to Frodo Baggins to Luke Skywalker to Buffy to Neo to who knows?

Ironically we found ourselves watching part of Joseph Campbell’s interview with Bill Moyers on the meaning of myths that has been out on DVD for a while (if you have not seen this series, you owe it to yourself as a writer to view it). The first segment dealt with that hero’s journey, that call to transcend the every day of our lives to accomplish the heroic.

I’ve been working on this post for a couple of days now and I’m still not sure what all I wanted to say, except that I think that’s what we are all looking for when we read genre fiction–that heroic act extended and fulfilled.

And for our own lives? According to Campbell, each of us should search for our own bliss, our own moments of transcendence. He’ll get no arguments from me.

Then today, I take the test below. Now I’m thinking hmmm–I could do that. Look for little green men at a bookstore near you–maybe.

You Should Be a Science Fiction Writer

Your ideas are very strange, and people often wonder what planet you’re from. And while you may have some problems being “normal,” you’ll have no problems writing sci-fi. Whether it’s epic films, important novels, or vivid comics… Your own little universe could leave an important mark on the world!