Sunday, June 17, 2007

Six Favorite Heros



OK, This is definitely much easier than the Heroines. I think because I like many of the heroes for superficial reasons. Romantic heroes, often alpha males, are created to entice your heart and ...uhm...senses, but not necessarily your brain. Sometimes there is the rare Hero who does both. Here is my list of those who do entice every part of me.

1. Tristan of the 12 century tale Tristan and Isolde. Tristan is torn between the agony of betraying his Uncle and most loved friend Mark, and the woman who both saved his life and tried to kill him. Isolde loves him and leaves him, and then when Tristan finally finds his own Isolde, the first Isolde returns to haunt him further. He is a true example of chivalry, honor, and integrity.

2. Mr. Knightly of Jane Austin’s Emma: He is the perfect man; patient, kind, wise, honorable,and considerate.

3. Hawk from Karen Marie Moning’s Beyond the highland Mist: This is the first Moning book I have read. Hawk was perfect, I have not come across a hero so enticing in any book I have read. She endeared him to me with the hand carved nursery he created for his future babes.

4. The Phantom of the Opera - from the 2004 film, not the book or opera: A tormented musical genius, passionately obsessive about the heroine. He is highly intelligent, erotic, and possessive. He is so fragile within his heart. The paradox between his tender nurturing and violent obsession makes him very fascinating.

5. Leif Draugr of Kat Martin’s Heart of Honor: Smart, ambitious, willing to risk everything for family, but torn between the love of his life and the love of his lost world. Who can resist a Viking caught in 19th century London?

6. Mr. Darcy, Mr. Darcy, Mr. Darcy! No need to explain, I am sure!

Thursday, June 7, 2007

Six heroines that I love


The gals of my writing group, Affairs of the Pen, have been talking about their favorite heroes and heroines. We picked six of our favorites and I will share my favorites with you.

I love my heroines because I relate to them so well, there is a little bit of me in each one of them.

1. Hermione Granger of Harry Potter: She makes being bookish cool and being a know it all rather endearing, even though it stems from being deeply insecure and feeling completely inadequate. She is spunky, calm, collected, and best of all a loyal and true friend in all circumstances.

2. Emma of Jane’s Austin’s Emma: Emma has a heart of gold, but she can take her charity too far. I relate to Emma. We both continually overextend ourselves to help others and much to our dismay disaster always ensues and we end up hurting ourselves as well as the people we care about.

3. Bridget Jones of Helen Felding’s Bridget Jones’ Diary: Ok, I know this book is a blatant plagiarism of Jane Austin, but I still love the story and her endearing Bridget. She is loyal, caring, and a real heroine. I can also relate to Bridget very well. Slightly overweight, always saying the wrong things, being a complete slob and clumsy ox...Bridget and I are twins! Plus, I too drink a little bit too much wine.

4. Madeline Hunter’s Nesta of Stealing Heaven: Proud and loyal even though she has been outcast by society. A true fighter, she never gives up even though her situation is pretty bleak.

5. Keira of Hanna Howell’s Highland Champion: I think the reason I like her is because she is an energy healer.

6. Kim Possible: Ok, I know she is a cartoon character. BUT I LOVE HER! Not only is she smart, strong, fearless, but she loves her goofy sidekick Ron...definitely not an alpha male hero. I tell my daughters the show is really about me. She really can save the world.

Saturday, June 2, 2007

Lost in my own world

It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy, that makes happiness. -Charles H. Spurgeon


Hello Again,

After weeks of being absent from the blog, I am back again. Did you miss me? Life was seemingly spinning out of control for a while and now things are starting to settle down a bit. The close of the week has been excellent, although I am nursing a pretty nasty sunburn on my face from today’s outing.

I live in Hawai’i and I am a triathlete, albeit not a very good one, and I raced the North Shore Triathlon today. I do my best “writing” when I am out on a run or during a swim. My mind is free from distractions and can wander as far as it likes. Today, however, I was distracted from my usual creative reverie. I finished dead last in my age group, but I was helping a friend through the swim and I went verra verra slow for her. I even stopped a few times when she was having bike trouble - she clipped a guy coming out of transition and then couldn’t get into her pedals. Once she was stable on the bike she took off like a flash and I did not see her again. She finished 181st and I humbly stumbled in at 250th or so. As they say, no good deed goes unpunished.

Luckily, in the writing world my writing friends are always there to support me. We have a very stellar group of writers in my opinion, and there are some of us, who I suspect will have their MIPs picked up for publishing very soon. I would never want any of my AOTP buds to slow down and wait for me. I want them to press ahead and succeed. So what happens after publication? Will the dynamics of our group change? Will our stellar writers have the time to give suggestions, chat about Harry Potter theories, or to lend a helping hand with personal issues? I wonder how other writing groups have handled this transition with the demands of a newly published or contracted writer.

I cannot speak for all writing groups, as they are all as different as the individuals that make up their membership, but I think I can speak for us. I think AOTP would always have time for the friends that we made as budding writers. Our support and love has helped guide each of us on our journey to success and we would miss each other so much if one of us chose to move on. I guess as long as we continue to grow as writers, we can still be an asset to each other professionally as well as personally. Published or not.

So, this sunburned girl learned a valuable lesson today, support your friends, but always press ahead.