I’ve been notified that I’ve won the 2009 Meager Puddle of Limelight Award for Best Opening Line, a competition administered by Jon Gibbs on his LiveJournal blog “An Englishman in New Jersey.” Only LiveJournal members could vote, and I’m gratified to have won because I know I don’t have that many friends on LiveJournal! It was by secret ballot, and anyhow I entered anonymously, which it turns out I didn’t even have to do. One of these days I’ll figure out how computer technology works…<\/p>\n
My opening line was “Without meaning to, Camilla Torres had picked a good place to die.” That is, legitimately, the opening line of the book I’m currently writing, ONE BLOOD, the prequel to DANCE WITH THE DRAGON. Jon tells me there were 67 entries, 52 people voted and my entry got 23.1% of the vote. He said I win a “metaphorical trophy,” but I gather he’s also going to interview me on his blog, which is a really good prize.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, my first draft of ONE BLOOD is stalking toward completion. I’ve finished a climactic scene in which the hero and heroine finally see eye-to-eye (spoiler alert), and as I figure it I have three scenes to go, which I plan to divide into two chapters. Still haven’t completely figured out the second-to-last scene yet, because it will take a little more research, but I should have plenty of time over the holidays. I actually get some time off from work, though not a whole week. <\/p>\n
I just finished THE LOST SYMBOL (Dan Brown, of course) and enjoyed it. Every author has his or her strengths, and Brown’s certainly is keeping you turning the pages. The symbol stuff can get to be a little much, his characters are pretty two-dimensional and seem to exist mostly to voice his ideas, and he uses so many italics that I now feel very restrained by comparison. But his villain was interesting, suitably scary, and some of the twists were very clever. Things move so fast in his books that you don’t spend a lot of time analyzing the flaws. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I’ve been notified that I’ve won the 2009 Meager Puddle of Limelight Award for Best Opening Line, a competition administered by Jon Gibbs on his LiveJournal blog “An Englishman in New Jersey.” Only LiveJournal members could vote, and I’m gratified … Continue reading