You Know You're a Historical Fiction-Writing Geek When . . .

The other week I posted the following tweet:

You know you're a historical fiction-writing geek when the words "in the public domain" have you doing air punches of joy.

Today at lunch, I realized I could probably write daily tweets that complete that same sentence opener. Therefore, here's an expanded version:

YOU KNOW YOU'RE A HISTORICAL FICTION-WRITING GEEK WHEN. . .

You curl up with your historical slang dictionaries as often as you snuggle up with your loved ones.

Costumes aren't costumes. They're business attire.

You spend hours obsessively trying to find the historically accurate type of cheese knife your character should be using in a scene that lasts only two pages.

You find yourself yelling Eiffel Tower elevator history out the window at your husband as he's trying to walk the dog. (Yes, this really happened.)

You shake your head at anachronisms in movies and wonder why the filmmakers aren't also snuggling up with their slang dictionaries.

You use the words "history" and "sexy" in the same sentence. Often. 

Your favorite scene from the original Twilight movie involves the vampires running around in historical caps and trousers.

The random, royalty-free history images you inserted on your website make you smile.

Experts in your particular era become your best email buddies.

You consider people who dress up for sci-fi conventions a little out there, but you envy historical reenactors.

Those brown historical site markers along the side of the road have you hanging your head out the window, drooling like a dog in August.

And most importantly, you know you're a historical fiction-writing geek when...

You're dancing on air when you read about other historical fiction-writing geeks signing books deals and hitting bestseller lists—because you know they're just as wonderfully obsessed with the past as you are.

Here's to everyone who writes historical fiction!

Feel free to add to my list. It's far from being complete.

A Little Extra Something for BLACKBIRDS (P.S. Check out My New Bird Socks)

My new bird socks from Sock it to Me.

I've been hard at work putting together a little extra something for In the Shadow of Blackbirds, which I'm hoping will give the manuscript an added oomph. I won't get into any details just yet, but it's a story-telling element that goes along perfectly with the subject matter of the novel. I'm not sure why I didn't think of it sooner.

I know... that's pretty much useless info if I'm not going to share any details, but I wanted to point out that even after working tirelessly on a manuscript for months and years, something new and spectacular can always be added to it. I've said it before: a relationship with with a manuscript is like a marriage. You go through honeymoon stages, bickering stages, and "We're going to get through this" stages. Sometimes you also need a spicing-things-up stage, which is what I'm completing now.

I truly hope I can eventually share In the Shadow of Blackbirds with the world. I'm madly in love with this novel and my characters, and I've now received so much help and input from various people, from my early readers to wonderfully hard-working museum staff members.  Thanks to everyone who's been journeying along on this ride with me!  Fingers crossed, we'll get this book out there.

Leaving the Safety of Home Base to Mingle with Other Writers

Me heading up to the podium to accept
my award. Sadly, the front-view shots turned
out too blurry to share. 

Last night I attended the awards banquet for the Willamette Writers Conference here in Portland, OR, to pick up my Kay Snow Award for my novel-in-progress.  I've attended numerous writer events throughout the years, including the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators winter conference in New York, and I always love the vibes at those places.

We writers tend to spend solitary lives behind the keyboard, so it's often a little strange to congregate in conference and banquet rooms brimming with other individuals working at the same profession. If you're a writer and you've never ventured out to workshops and other events geared toward inspiring and bettering our careers, I highly encourage you to give it a try. I don't consider myself to be the most outgoing person in the world, but the encouragement, support, and empathy found at such events is heaven.

I also got to see filmmaker Gus Van Sant accept his award for Distinguished Northwest Writer last night. That's another benefit of writers' conferences: you often get to hear words of wisdom from the highly talented people you admire.