Janet profile picture

Janet

I am here for Networking

About Me

I'm an aspiring author, currently working on my first novel, In a Dry and Weary Land. (I do need a better title, though.) The first draft is finished, and revisions are underway. This is what it is about:Blayn Goodwin lives in a world where Wizardry has always been the only religion. An intelligent child, with the rare gift of Truesight, he turns naturally to the only calling that can satisfy his hunger for knowledge and wisdom - that of magician and wizard - and rises to a position on Coventree's Supreme Council at an unusually early age. He finds himself questioning established values and secretly flouts the system for years by maintaining an illicit family. Still, when the Supreme Wizard, his friend and mentor, sends him to find an ancient book with a troubled history, neither of them are prepared for the questions it awakens; questions that lead Blayn to renounce Wizardy and remove himself from the Supreme Council just when Coventree is facing the greatest challenge of its history. Bereft of position and influence, Blayn must rescue his son who has been forcibly apprenticed by the Black Priesthood, and prevent the traitorous Edgar Savile from delivering Coventree over to them. But first he has to figure out how to escape from prison.Check out my writing blog here on MySpace, where I will be discussing the craft of writing. I would love to hear your ideas on it.

My Interests

Gardening, writing, politics, literature, culture, religion, music, history, and just about everything else.

I'd like to meet:

Here on MySpace most especially people interested in fiction, the reading and writing of it. But anybody who has intelligent, interesting things to say about anything I'm interested in (which is close to everything) can feel free to knock on my MySpace door. But if you don't have all your clothes on, or if you're trying to get me involved in some marketing scheme, I'm not letting you in. Pretty much the same rules that apply at my real front door...If you are a member of Absolute Write, you might know me better as Judg.And yes, I move my Top Friends around. Nobody stays there forever and everybody gets a turn. Don't read anything into it.

Music:

Classical, jazz, rock, folk, blues, bluegrass

Movies:

• The Incredibles • Unbreakable • Fiddler on the Roof (yeah, I know) • Amazing Grace

Television:

• Corner Gas, which I usually watch on DVD. TV just doesn't grab me.

Books:

The latest books that have awed me:• Who Has Seen the Wind - W.O. Mitchell • A Canticle for Leibowitz - Walter M. Miller • The Children of Men - P.D. James • Spin - Robert Charles Wilson • Ysabel - Guy Gavriel Kay • Madman - Tracy Groot • My Name is Asher Lev - Chaim Potok • Bel Canto - Ann Patchett • Homicide My Own - Ann ArgulaOther beloved authors include, in no particular order: Orson Scott Card, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Ursula LeGuin, Jane Austen, John Le Carré.

Heroes:

• Jesus Christ of Nazareth • Corrie ten Boom • William Wilberforce

My Blog

My denouement epiphany

There is nothing like coming to the last chapter in your first novel to make you realize you have never put any conscious thought into how to craft a good ending.  I did have an idea or two, and ...
Posted by Janet on Tue, 22 Jan 2008 05:38:00 PST

Goals for 2008

Yes, I'm doing it!  I'm sorry, I usually try to refrain from posting anything even vaguely related to New Year's resolutions.  But I do have some concrete goals for my writing in 2008, all t...
Posted by Janet on Thu, 03 Jan 2008 07:06:00 PST

Book review - Madman

Apparently search engines don't like duplicated material, so just click here to read my review of Tracy Groot's Madman.  Hint, it's been a while since I've been this enthusiastic about a book....
Posted by Janet on Sat, 27 Oct 2007 06:19:00 PST

Feed and starve

I am always willing to read what successful writers have to say about the craft of writing.  I'm usually willing to listen to what any writer has to say about it.  I learned a long time ago ...
Posted by Janet on Fri, 26 Oct 2007 09:38:00 PST

I won J.M. McDermotts contest

Which means I win the prize: an autographed ARC copy of his upcoming novel Last Dragon.  Seeing as I entered the contest because I actually wanted the prize, this is nice.This was my first attemp...
Posted by Janet on Mon, 22 Oct 2007 12:40:00 PST

Distinctive voices for characters

While thrashing about on the Internet (surfing is far too elegant a word to apply to what I do), I found a writing blog by Anne Mini that deserves a medal or two.  In a post from her series on PO...
Posted by Janet on Wed, 17 Oct 2007 08:08:00 PST

How does reading affect your morale?

I have been in a wee bit of a funk lately, going through one of those phases where I am quite unsatisfied with my own writing and finding it hard to believe I'll ever produce something worthy of publi...
Posted by Janet on Tue, 16 Oct 2007 04:21:00 PST

Editing and revising

When editing, I like to start big and work my way down.  I figure there is not much point in polishing a sentence or paragraph that might not even survive the final cut.To get the big picture, I ...
Posted by Janet on Fri, 05 Oct 2007 03:21:00 PST

Spreadsheets and plotting

No, I'm serious.  Don't run away screaming. A spreadsheet can be your best friend when building a plot.At least it was for me.  I had never tried to put together a plot for anything longer ...
Posted by Janet on Wed, 26 Sep 2007 09:55:00 PST