Here we are mid-April. It must be almost spring, right?
Yet, we had an inch and a half of snow on Sunday, and another flurry on Tuesday. Doesn’t the weatherman know it’s SPRING??
What is happening where you live? Leave me a comment and let me know.
Best, Sylvie
We have bald eagles around our land, and this winter, starting in December, a couple of eagles built a nest in a cottonwood tree just down from the house. Here it is, full of twigs and tree limbs. We kept seeing them flying past our house, carrying big branches in their claws, and followed them around until we found what they were doing. There is an eagle parked in the nest now, so we figure the eggs have been laid. That means they should hatch in 5 weeks, around the 12th of April. Very exciting. I’ll keep you posted. 🙂
This little cup is a keepsake that we brought back with us from the Island of Rhodes some years ago. We much enjoyed Rhodes, very historical, lovely old buildings, and a nice swim in the Mediterranean Sea. The cup is lovely, isn’t it, and no, it’s not made in China. On the bottom it reads ‘Hand Made by Neofitoy Keramik, Fauraki-Rodos’. You can see the flowers are hand-drawn, even see the brush strokes. To give you an idea of the size of the cup, here is a picture of my husband’s hand holding it.
We hardly ever use them, but on occasion I have brought them out to have a tea party with my wee grandsons. We do that on the lawn so when the cups fall, (which they inevitably do) they don’t break. 🙂
We had a big snowfall after Christmas that lasted several days and nearly snowed us in. One of our neighbours has just moved here and I haven’t even met him yet. But he plowed the whole road and cleared access, as the public plow usually fills in our road entrance and blocks us in.
Then a second neighbour very kindly plowed our long driveway as he cleared his own.
A third neighbour has a creek running through his land that empties into the ditch that parallels our road and drive. Here it is now, a gentle stream.
I was out for a walk the other day and this is what I observed.
What do people do in your neighbourhood? Drop me a line and let me know.
Let me tell you a little about me, Sylvie Grayson, and why I write!
What am I currently working on?
My current work is the prequel to The Last War series, where an ambitious young Sergeant in the military is reluctantly dragged into the middle of the Emperor’s ambitions to increase the number of women in his harem, at a time when women are scarce and his boss begins a courtship.
At the same time rebellion is rampant in the competing territories in reaction to the Emperor’s willingness to eliminate people who get in his way. Soon the War begins and everyone must choose sides. If you are not for Emperor Aqatain, you are against him.
How does my contemporary romantic suspense differ from the sci fi/fantasy genre?
In contemporary, my heroes are busy guys who are trying their best to make a go of their careers. They aren’t perfect but they work hard and play hard, knowing life can throw them a curve unexpectedly, and it always does. My heroines are smart, usually independent minded women who have a plan for their lives. When these two meet up, the sparks fly, especially if they are already driving on a collision course. Then I mix in a bit of intrigue and suspense in the shape of a bad character or two, some unforeseen events to up the ante and make things really interesting.
The fantasy is somewhat the same, in that the collision course gets mixed with imagined world building and a touch of ‘other world’. I don’t do werewolves, vampires etc, but I like the freedom of changing things up with my imagination.
I try to stay away from the classic scenarios –businessmen who enter into shady deals to make a lot of money, or high flying politicians who work for their own interests to gain wealth or influence. I feel those have been overdone, and it’s time to look for more interesting and inventive plots.
Why do I write what I do?
I have a varied and out-of-the ordinary background and I think that comes through in what I write. My father was a story teller, some of the stories were imagined. He played the accordion and mouth organ, and loved to sing ballads. My mother was a painter, a writer and a respected poet. So I come by the wish to tell stories honestly. I also have a background in business, entertainment, travel, start-up companies, you name it. So I like to write about those things.
Life is never easy, I don’t know anyone who has sailed through without a hitch. So when I’m writing, and begin to throw the hitch into the mix, the leak in the lifeboat, or the thief in the scenario, it just gets more interesting and exciting. The suspense in ‘romantic suspense’ gives the love story a special impact.
How does my writing process work?
I’ve written about fifteen or sixteen books now, and the process has evolved. Because I have finally retired, I write when I can find the uninterrupted time to do so. I usually start with an idea about the characters and the situation they’re in. As I mull it over in my mind, their personalities evolve and I start to see why they are doing what they do, and how their goals are at cross purposes. Then I work on getting them together.
When I write, I usually know where I’m going with the story. But the story can surprise me, and take me in a different direction than I originally planned. I find the characters come alive and soon have a mind of their own. It takes some special handling as the story evolves to stay on course but, at the same time, allow the hero and heroine a voice in their own story. It’s what I love to do.
To follow Sylvie's blog, click on the friendly Follow button on the lower right of the site.
