I Give In - Follow Me!

Ok, I admit that this thing has tempted me. All those eyes keep looking at me. So, I give in. I've added the Followers gadget, so please follow me and I'll try to follow you!

Words per Day? and Celebrity Revealed!

As I'm working on finishing my adult mystery and rereading/editing a set of mystery short stories I finally want to submit, it got me wondering how others do it. It's hard switching gears and finding enough time in a day to do both.

Realistically I know if I did at least 2,500 words a day (about 10 pages) a week, I could finish the over 20,000 words I need yet in less than three weeks. Well... it never seems to work out that way, right? Somehow, guess I'll keep plugging. (Today it's near 1,000 words but I'm not done yet.)

Maybe I should be a midnight writer. ha! A few of us at the gym joked about us all getting up in the middle of the night, combined with the couple trips to the bathroom. Maybe on those prolonged can't-get-back-to-sleep sessions, I should write instead of read. (and I did consider plugging in the laptop tho I hate turning into a zombie later. ha!)

So, I'm curious and am asking other writers: what do you do? How many words a day? Do you write all day? Get up at night? Please share!

** Answer to Monday's Celebrity Quiz:

I shared the photos of two miniature dolls in Monday's post and asked people to guess their identities.

Philippa guessed the identities right off - Kevin Costner, and I thought the second doll looked like singer Susan Boyle. So Philippa, if you're a miniatures collector, contact me, or I'll try to find your email to send you a little something!

Miniatures Monday: Name that Celebrity!

The enjoyable part of making miniature dolls is that there are molds available of famous personalities, or those who look like them. Or sometimes talented sculptors will sculpt their own original versions of famous (or infamous) persons.

For fun, I thought I'd showcase a couple of new dolls today, but let you guess what famous persons they may look like.

The first porcelain doll was hand-sculpted by doll artist Diane Pietrocola, who makes dolls under the name Doll Art by Diane.

The porcelain figure (in standard 1/12th scale, 1" =1 foot) is actually fashioned after a well-known male actor. I won't give his name as that'll give it away, so I'll let you guess who you think he looks like.



The second doll was a special commission made by artist Gina Gagnon of Lone Wolf Miniatures. Gina does a great job creating dolls that look real and have "personality."

The female doll you see was designed in the role as pictured, but the minute I saw her face, I noticed the resemblance to a recent person in the news. Don't let the outfit fool you.

* Feel free to share your guesses. I'll share the answer in tomorrow's post.

Searching For A Starry Night 4th Grade Visit 2

A few notes from my visit today to Nash Elementary School in Kenosha, WI. (Pictured: Teacher Cara Gorr reads Searching For A Starry Night to the class.)

The kids and 4th grade teacher Cara Gorr finished reading Searching For A Starry Night, A Miniature Art Mystery in class.

Fun to see whom they picked as the thief of the miniature painting, a replica of Van Gogh's "Starry Night." (It was about half and half favoring the housekeeper and the gardener!)

Today, I signed copies of the book for students and shared my miniature Candy Box Room which they thought was "sweet!" (Sorry, I couldn't resist. ha!)



(Pictured: Blackboard image)

I also asked the kids to name their favorite parts of the book. A couple replies:

"When Petey ran to get the key from Mr. Jensen, I imagined it. It looked funny." - Josh.

"When Petey ran away with the keys at Mr. Jensen's house cuz my dog alwasy runs away with stuff." - Kaitlyn.

** Next, I'll share some interesting lessons and how the kids answered the class questions. I even learned a few things and new ways to look at things, too!

Printer's Row Book Fair

Thought I'd share a few pix from the Printer's Row Lit Fest Book Fair in Chicago.

I went on Saturday and sold some copies of Searching For A Starry Night in the Echelon Press tent. Despite the terrible weather (blowy and chilly, this is June?), it was a great event and fun seeing everyone again.




I grew up in Chicago, but the Chicago skyline never fails to impress. This view is coming south on the expressway.

It's always at least 10 degrees cooler by the lake. Considering that I don't think it even reached 60 degrees Saturday it was a little nippy, but that didn't stop book lovers from coming out. The crowds were pretty steady.



Echelon Publisher Karen Syed shares her opinion. (lol!)

Other "Characters"

Some of the other "characters," er, authors at Echelon/Quake:

Norm Cowie introduced brand new, freshly published copies of his new ya humorous vampire novel, FANG FACE, (due out in September).

I agreed to take a photo with him only after he retracted his fangs. Yes he is tall (and yes everyone is taller than me anyway).



Norm talks to a woman about his books, while Tim Broderick, author of the graphic novel, CASH & CARRY, does a credible imitation of explorer Stanley Livingstone.



Mary Welk, author of the Caroline Rhodes' mystery series, including A MERRY LITTLE MURDER.

Happy Me, Happy You Tag

Rachel at Miniatures by Rachel (check out her cool handmade food and spring earrings!) tagged me with the Happy Tag. Fun, as these seemed to have stopped for a while.

How it works:

1. Name and link back to the person who tagged you.
2.List 6 unimportant things that make you happy. (Well they're not really unimportant, right?)


Six things that make me happy in no particular order are:

1) Watching a funny movie.

2) Doing something creative that turns out like I wanted.

3) Writing a good passage.

4) Reading a story that I hate to put down.

5) Beautiful flowers or a garden

6) A good joke. We all need a good laugh now and then.

I tag:
Christina Rodriguez
Katie at Katie's Clay Corner
Clea Simon
Kat the Hat lady
Marsha at Sassy Mini Dolls
Katie Hines

** Feel free to share your happy items even if you haven't been tagged. We all could use more happiness!

Searching For A Starry Night Goes to the 4th Grade!

Cara Gorr, the 4th grade teacher at Nash Elementary School in Kenosha, WI, graciously chose Searching For A Starry Night, A Miniature Art Mystery for a three-week reading project in her class.

Mrs. Gorr and her students have been reading one to two chapters each day for their reading time. They also discuss what they've read and do writing exercises designed to meet certain educational requirements such as making connections with what they're reading, comprehension, visualization, etc.

(Mrs. Gorr holds up a hook fashioned by a blacksmith at Old World Wisconsin.)

It was interesting to see how a word or topic led to other topics. So, Grandpa Sylvester's letter and inventory list (in the book) dug up by Petey led to a past discussion on jobs unchanged by the Industrial Revolution (horseshoes still being made by hand) and the modern name, a ferrier.

I stopped in to say hello to the class last week (as a visitor) and went for a full visit yesterday. Mrs. Gorr had wanted to surprise the kids so we kept my identity as the author secret until yesterday's visit. What fun! As the majority of kids had never met an author before, many were surprised at our surprise.

The fun was hearing the kids' questions about the book and about being a writer. They had some great questions, such as:

* Were Sam and Lita (my Searching For A Starry Night characters) real (and based on anyone real?) (That led to a few comments on inspiration, using real people as characters, and the possibility of being sued.)

* What inspired the story? Why was Mrs. Drake (the housekeeper and an important character) so mean?

* Did I have a dog like Petey? What kind of car I had? How much money I made? (Which led to a few comments on talking about royalties, advances, and how most writers are not rich unless they are ultra-famous and sold many books like Stephen King or get a big break, like Charlaine Harris's vampire mysteries being filmed and airing on HBO as the True Blood series. And I mentioned, many (most?) writers do have other jobs.)

It was a fun 1 1/2 hour visit. They enjoyed seeing part of my collection of dollhouse miniatures (fast food this time), but the miniature Starry Night painting (just like in the book) was a big hit. Seeing is believing, and they were amazed at the detail in such a small painting. I also read a short you-solve-it mystery featuring my characters, Sam and Lita, and gave them a word search puzzle with words from the book (I'll be putting it up soon at my website.)



Next week, the kids will finish reading the book, so it'll be interesting to see what they think, and if they solve the mystery of who stole the miniature Starry Night painting!

I'll share some of their writing and some of their art in coming posts. (They made their own small versions of Van Gogh's Starry Night in class, which were very creative!)

A Thank You for Great Miniatures!

I wanted to share the amazing broom and witch hat made by Kat at Kat the Hat Lady's blog.

I swapped her some Halloween food for the Halloween broom set. My miniature witches will be fighting over who gets to wear it!

Guess I'll have to design a matching color dress! Funny as I was thinking only of traditional Halloween colors, so this will be an interesting challenge to think of mixing pastels in. The detail is wonderful, better than the photos. Thanks, Kat!

The Dream Child, Short Fiction from Dragons Composed

Today, I'm sharing an excerpt from my story, "The Dream Child," included in the recently published anthology, DRAGONS COMPOSED, from Kerlak Publishing.




Excerpt, "The Dream Child"
By C. A. Verstraete

"Margriet, you have to do something with the boy." Lionus Van Der Straete slugged down the rest of his ale and belched. "Another cup, woman, and a hunk of that bread."

A feeling of dread hit Margriet as she grabbed the pitcher of ale and walked across the room to the table. "Yes, yes, I will talk to him again." She filled the mug and sighed, wishing the answer on how to control her youngest was as easy as sidestepping her husband's groping fingers. Something she should have done six children ago, she thought.

The youngest boy, Bernardus, had come out of her womb nine years hence screaming, with a full head of hair, fists flailing. "Ach, a lively one he'll be," the midwife had remarked.

Margriet had cursed the woman and her prediction ever since.

The knife made a pleasant thunk against the wooden board as she cut a chunk of bread, making her think of things that she'd be too ashamed to tell the Father at this week's confession. She dropped the bread on the man's wooden trencher and went back to kneading the few coarse leftover grains and flour to make a new loaf.

His meal done, the man rose and gave her a pointed look as he fastened the heavy cloak about his shoulders. "Talk to the boy or I will."

She nodded and watched her husband pick up his tools and head to the market square in hopes of being chosen for a day's labor. She hoped he'd get something to ease his surliness, and their worries. They needed the coin to supplement the few pennies she earned from sewing lace under the dim light of a candle late into the night.

Her fists pounded the dough, the force of her motions putting healthy dents in the moistened mass. Her mind raced as she wondered how to get the thickheaded boy to see reason, to make him stop his foolish storytelling.

She partly blamed herself.

She would never have let him hear all those fanciful tales of dragons, soothsayers and the like as a little one if she'd known how much he'd take them to heart.

Margriet mulled over her brood as she placed the raw loaf into a cloth-covered bowl and set it inside the still warm stone oven to rise. She had nothing but praise for her more sensible older children. The eldest, Alexander, though quiet, had outgrown his moodiness and was courting the cobbler's daughter; a good match.

She said a silent prayer, thanking God for her four daughters, especially Maria and Constancia, who at thirteen and twelve were well-versed in cooking and cleaning, helping make the endless chores a little easier. They were good examples to the two younger girls. She regretted the coming day when they would leave her hearth for families of their own.

One of the problems, she knew, was as the last to be born, Bernardus was too many years removed from his older brother, and the younger girls had no patience for his dirty fingers grabbing their few playthings.

Left on his own, he often found troublesome ways to amuse himself. The boy was lucky not to have been jailed after he set fire to a neighbor's barn the year before. Margriet had barely been able to contain her husband's rage when the boy insisted he was only trying to burn the dross from the hay so it would turn to gold.

"Alchemy?" Lionus had yelled, grabbing a sturdy switch off the tree outside their door. "The boy has crazy ideas instead of doing his chores? I'll give him something to dream about!"

Margriet had long feared the boy was soft, that he'd been injured coming out of the birth canal. When he began coming home bloodied and bruised, his sisters crying that he was ruining their future chances for being wed, she knew he had to be kept even closer to her apron.

But more worrisome were the boy's increasingly elaborate tales.

She tried to keep this from his father, fearing fatal harm to the child, but she wasn't sure how long she could keep it secret. Even his sisters began calling him het droom kind, the dream child, harkening to the bedtime story she'd told them about a child saving the village from a dragon. She remembered her own mother reciting the tale to her while she learned to sew and make lace as a little girl. Her own children had enjoyed the story, too, but they had outgrown it. Her youngest, though, still found it fascinating...

(c)2009 C. Verstraete, published in Dragons Composed, Kerlak Publishing - http://candidcanine.blogspot.com

* Order: Amazon.com

Miniature Cigar Box Room

Thought I'd share a neat roombox that hubby found at the local flea market.

This General Store is set inside an old wood cigar box. It looks to be about half scale. It's a fascinating room as most of the items were probably handmade. It's one of those projects that has a lot of detail in a small space and every time you look, you're sure to see something new.

What's neat is that there are some really creative items in here. The hanging lamp was made from a Christmas tree bulb. The wood stove is a wood cylinder that was painted. "Jars" and packages on the shelves were formed with pictures on wood blocks for depth. There are all kinds of little metal doo-dads to simulate those odds and ends you'd find in a general store.

The sad part is that it is signed and was given as a gift in 1992 to a nephew. Obviously the maker Chuck Och of Illinois made quite a few as this one is labeled #119.

I'm not sure why the box ended up in a flea market, but Mr. Och can rest assured that his work lives on and is being enjoyed by myself and others who love miniatures and appreciate the craftsmanship he put into it.