tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81781522008-10-11T11:09:42.838-05:00Fantasy Author Gail Dayton muses on her writing life, how life interferes with it, and whatever else strikes her fancy.Gail Daytonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12799083467910831241noreply@blogger.comBlogger284125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8178152.post-87414965619091610602008-10-10T12:59:00.003-05:002008-10-10T14:12:02.519-05:00

So. I'm going to open with the good news. I just got word. THE ETERNAL ROSE, the 3rd book in my One Rose trilogy, won the 2008 Prism Award for Best Fantasy. (THE BARBED ROSE (book 2) won the Prism in 2007, fyi.) Needless to say, I am totally chuffed. It was fabulous news to come in the wake of all the hurricane disruption. The dead refrigerator is gone from our front curb. So are the branches

Gail Daytonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12799083467910831241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8178152.post-64810615084814608822008-09-30T19:07:00.013-05:002008-09-30T20:11:23.169-05:00

The fella went down last Thursday--to avoid the 10-mile long backup of people trying to get to the island on Wednesday. No electricity. No gas. No drinkable water--but flushable toilets. I went down on Saturday with my sister and niece, so they could pick up her car. It was a totally gorgeous day. The surf was almost non-existent. We got a mini-tour of the city--mostly just what was around our

Gail Daytonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12799083467910831241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8178152.post-66188049963813088342008-09-18T14:51:00.002-05:002008-09-18T15:08:30.665-05:00

I tried to post another blog the other day, but the electricity blinked out for a few seconds at the parents' house, and I never did get back to it. So. The word is Very Good about our house. We did not get any water inside, not even in the garage, that we could tell. So my baby sister's car is fine. We can't get it out, but it's fine. See, we only have a key to the front door of this rent house

Gail Daytonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12799083467910831241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8178152.post-58041453129018168042008-09-12T19:50:00.002-05:002008-09-12T20:09:34.543-05:00

I am sitting in my parents' house in a little town SE of Austin, watching Hurricane Ike on the Weather Channel. I like the Weather Channel, because their reporters are actually on Galveston Island. In fact, they're staying in a hotel not far from my house. So when they do their live reports from the seawall, I can see how high the waves are splashing up, and how high the water is coming over the

Gail Daytonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12799083467910831241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8178152.post-73485179665941221952008-09-10T21:06:00.002-05:002008-09-10T21:16:37.365-05:00

Just a quick post here to let y'all know that--while at the moment Hurricane Ike is forecast to land a little north of Matagorda Bay, Ike is big enough that his outside edge will scrape the island pretty hard. Least little bit of turn to the north, and we'll get hit even harder, so I'm packing up the computer and all my totebags with manuscripts, and my two portable hard drives and my CDs of

Gail Daytonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12799083467910831241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8178152.post-91309894804020616812008-09-08T22:49:00.003-05:002008-09-08T22:58:45.121-05:00

So, now we're waiting to see whether Ike wants to come to Texas. He's tracking our direction, so far. If he comes ashore at Corpus Christi or south, I might not have to leave, depending on how strong a storm he is at that point. If he comes ashore in Texas anywhere north of there, the fella's probably going to make me leave town (again, depending on how big a storm it is--anything Category 3 or

Gail Daytonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12799083467910831241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8178152.post-32152136682900709442008-09-03T16:13:00.002-05:002008-09-03T16:54:53.309-05:00

Actually, I'm pretty sure it's not writer's block. I don't get that very much. I do, however, suffer tremendously from The Lazies, and from The Stupids. (The Lazies are pretty much self-explanatory. The Stupids--that's where your characters are stupid, the dialogue is stupid, the narrative is Stupid, the Plot is STupid, and EVERYTHING IS JUST STUPID, STUPID, STUPID!) (Have you ever noticed how

Gail Daytonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12799083467910831241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8178152.post-67993369392177435292008-08-29T14:38:00.002-05:002008-08-29T16:29:54.365-05:00

Gussie will just not make up his mind. While we anxiously wait to hear whether he's going to smack down New Orleans again, or turn left and try to blow our little island away, Gustav is out messing around with Cuba, heading for the Gulf. Folks are shutting things down, just in case, so they don't have to come back and do it over the holiday. I haven't been out to the Seawall yet today, but

Gail Daytonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12799083467910831241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8178152.post-51081932320081965932008-08-28T14:36:00.002-05:002008-08-28T14:41:36.468-05:00

Not such good writing day today. Got 2.5 pages. Sigh. Much of it probably cuttable. Mostly transition-type stuff, which sometimes you need, but... Tomorrow, can go visit the dead zone. Play with metal machine cog critters. Need to give them cogs. Beach was beachy. Saw a couple of catfish just washed up lying dead on the beach. Lots of crab prints. Lots of crabs--didn't pay attention before. A

Gail Daytonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12799083467910831241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8178152.post-19765575706079103632008-08-27T15:05:00.002-05:002008-08-27T15:15:31.181-05:00

Well, I can't seem to make Blogger upload a photo from another site, so I'm just going to have to make links to the pictures. It seems that Clay Walker, the country music singer/star, has a house somewhere on the island. And he was at Home Depot the other day, buying bug spray for mosquitos, which have become a sudden problem due to recent rains. And the photographer with the newspaper where I

Gail Daytonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12799083467910831241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8178152.post-69393657770202933812008-08-26T15:50:00.002-05:002008-08-26T16:09:07.276-05:00

Boy, it is REALLY easy to tell when school starts when you live in a tourist mecca. I could have lunch at Whataburger today. During tourist season, no way can I get through the door, much less find a parking place. There usually aren't many people out on the beach at 8 a.m., but today--I saw even fewer--though the beach still was groomed. (They take a big bulldozer out with a rake and rake up the

Gail Daytonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12799083467910831241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8178152.post-59072201551986674572008-08-22T12:14:00.002-05:002008-08-22T12:35:08.611-05:00

Going to take a bit of time, (I've been talking to the English guy in the newsroom too much, I think. Ian's rubbing off on me.) before I have to run to pick the son up at the airport (from England--hmm) and do that blog about RWA workshops I went to, while I have it. Time, I mean. Okay. The first workshop in my little notebook (a non-spiral composition book in a smaller size I bought just for

Gail Daytonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12799083467910831241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8178152.post-84112767058297242282008-08-20T17:12:00.002-05:002008-08-20T17:36:35.265-05:00

I still want to do a post about the workshops I went to at RWA National, but before I do that, I want to do a little blog (hopefully I can keep it short) on what's been going on in my life since I got home again. Lately it's been raining. Dolly the granddog is afraid of lightning and thunder and rain, and she's been pretty frantic. We do have the garage open so she can get into a more enclosed

Gail Daytonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12799083467910831241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8178152.post-29466834238605966452008-08-14T09:38:00.002-05:002008-08-14T12:10:02.393-05:00

I will tell you about the rest of my trip to San Francisco...if I can remember it. I was really tired while I was there, and it's been a whole nother week since then. I have been working very hard at the paper, too. So, I think we're up to Friday Friday a.m. was breakfast with the agent. We met at the hotel restaurant. (I had an omelet.) And we talked about stuff for at least an hour and a half

Gail Daytonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12799083467910831241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8178152.post-30478850070058176642008-08-07T16:26:00.006-05:002008-08-07T17:37:27.036-05:00

What that title has to do with anything, I don't know, except maybe that--being a coastal Texan, I do not do San Francisco's hills very well. So. (The picture is of Union Square and an art show--that is some other hotel in the background...but it IS San Francisco.) Wednesday. I got up at O-dark-hundred and got off to the airport about 15 minutes later than I wanted to. Because of the gathering

Gail Daytonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12799083467910831241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8178152.post-54087940034678135442008-08-05T16:05:00.002-05:002008-08-05T16:32:30.908-05:00

I've downloaded my few pictures from San Francisco (my camera is getting old and creaky, and it's rather large, and I didn't carry it much), and will post the best of them as soon as I get my brain together. For now, though, since I do live on the Texas coast, and since there is a tropical storm wandering around the area, I thought I'd mention that Edouard is obviously French, because he has no

Gail Daytonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12799083467910831241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8178152.post-8374818864790081452008-07-29T16:09:00.002-05:002008-07-29T16:28:46.007-05:00

It's about 90 degrees today (32.2 C), and--as usual, on a small island--about 900 percent humidity. (Okay, okay, probably only 90%, but it FEELS like 900%...) Which means it's freakin' hot outside. It has been this hot since--oh, March, or so. Okay--maybe just since May. But a long time. Hot. Really hot. And muggy. Tomorrow, I am flying to San Francisco. When I checked the weather online, to

Gail Daytonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12799083467910831241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8178152.post-7560130401957513602008-07-25T13:48:00.005-05:002008-07-25T14:21:09.084-05:00

The Big Read reckons that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they’ve printed. (Not sure who "The Big Read" is, but thought this was interesting.) 1) Look at the list and bold those you have read. 2) Italicize those you intend to read. 3) Underline the books you love.Hmm. Of the top 10, I've read 8. That right there puts me at "above average." I've read 45 of these books

Gail Daytonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12799083467910831241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8178152.post-12019729194513975192008-07-23T16:30:00.002-05:002008-07-23T16:55:12.604-05:00

So, the grandboys are visiting. And Hurricane Dolly (not named after the granddog) is coming ashore about 400 miles to the south near the mouth of the Rio Grande. What that means for us is slightly higher tides, brisk winds, some rain (we sure could use more), and heavy surf. Usually the surf here is on the pathetic side, but right now it's roaring in with lots of energy. And I took the boys (

Gail Daytonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12799083467910831241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8178152.post-61954631560736465622008-07-15T08:55:00.002-05:002008-07-15T09:20:03.079-05:00

Crazy season is here, and doesn't look to be leaving any time soon. I considered running away from home, but any place I could run, the craziness would just follow me. Or else those places are where the craziness is coming from. And I actually don't mind the craziness...I like doing all this stuff. It's just nearly impossible to catch my breath between times. Like, the Texas grandboys came to

Gail Daytonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12799083467910831241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8178152.post-82767277585382161642008-07-09T13:36:00.003-05:002008-07-09T14:11:51.363-05:00

Last weekend was a holiday weekend. After running like a crazy person all of last week, the weekend arrived and I had a chance to relax. Somewhat. I did a little bit of running to get downtown to the parade, because the fella was going to be in it. It was kind of a short parade, and I forgot to put on sunscreen ahead of time, and the shady places weren't the best parade-watching places, but it

Gail Daytonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12799083467910831241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8178152.post-4689872391052885902008-07-03T15:13:00.002-05:002008-07-03T16:08:08.828-05:00

Yeah, I know. Haven't been here in a while. So. ApolloCon was lots of fun. Saw my friends Rosemary Clement-Moore (of the Prom Dates From Hell books) and Shanna Swendson (of the Enchanted, Inc. series), and Chuck Emerson of Houston Bay Area RWA, and made some new friends. I met A. Lee Martinez who also writes some cool books, and his girlfriend Sally who is very cute and funny, and Rie Sheridan

Gail Daytonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12799083467910831241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8178152.post-59270484060990475822008-06-26T14:19:00.003-05:002008-06-26T15:31:23.035-05:00

I was scanning the blogs I have come to read semi-regularly, and one of them had a post about Reality Television. Now, I don't watch much reality TV. I don't like the Survivor-type shows, or the Bachelor shows, or the ones where they try to screw up peoples' lives. I have to admit that I am even enough of a prehistoric antediluvian (if those words don't mean the same thing), that I don't watch

Gail Daytonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12799083467910831241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8178152.post-26087321662429298902008-06-24T13:34:00.002-05:002008-06-24T15:04:41.170-05:00

It's been a very dry spring on my island. We just barely missed making the Top 5 Dryest Springs Ever because we had a little stormlet two days before the official first day of summer. Then on the first day of summer, while I was driving back to town from Fort Worth, The Sky Didst Open and The Deluge Didst Pour Forth. While I was on the highway. And I had to visit the little girls' room (so to

Gail Daytonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12799083467910831241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8178152.post-25782645641759576702008-06-18T16:11:00.003-05:002008-06-18T16:59:03.172-05:00

Those of you from the South know that I am not making up random numbers to title my blog. Forty-Two is a game. I didn't realize that it was also called Texas Forty-two, or The National Game of Texas--but I am not surprised. Forty-two is played with dominoes, and it has a little bit in common with Bridge, because the person who wins the bid chooses trumps. It has a little bit in common with Spades

Gail Daytonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12799083467910831241noreply@blogger.com