A Christmas Giggle!

While researching Scottish Yule/Christmas traditions, I ran across this brilliant comedy channel on Youtube - the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theater!  It's like the double-knit version of Monty Python.

Enjoy, and Merry Christmas, Happy Yule, or however you celebrate the return of the sun!



On a more Medieval note, enjoy this period piece from "Apollo's Fire - Duan Nollaig from Sacrum Mysterium: A Celtic Christmas Vespers."



~Carolan
www.carolanivey.com
Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/carolanivey

Digging Up Bones...Okay, Not Really!

Happy Halloween, or Blessed Samhain, everyone!

Having recently become a licensed motorcycle rider, I'm quite conscious of keeping my own bones (and titanium replacement parts) intact, thankyouverymuch. :)  Since I became a rider, I've gotten into watching motorcycle video blogs, aka "motovlogs", on Youtube. I love the strong sense of community, the diversity, and the welcoming, encouraging spirit among motovloggers.

So, while I don't yet have a fancy, helmet-mounted video cam set-up, I took my regular Canon PowerShot with me on a quick ride to take advantage of a rare, late-fall warm-up. I've ridden down to Sidecut Metropark, near Maumee, Ohio, many times, but never took the time to walk around the historic cemetery perched on the banks of the river.

So, for your Halloween pleasure, here is my first vlog, a walkaround of Riverside Cemetery near Maumee, Ohio, which is practically within the shadow of Fallen Timbers Battlefield. Feel fee to giggle at my stuttering and clumsy attempts at video editing!

Following my vid are links to three of my favorite spooky videos. Enjoy!! Have a safe (and hopefully dry) Halloween!



And now, three of my favorite spooky videos!

Castle Ghosts of Wales


Castle Ghosts of Ireland


Castle Ghosts of Scotland


~Carolan Ivey
www.carolanivey.com
Youtube Channel 

A Writer's Travels: A Summer of Inspiration

Yeah, I've been MIA on the blog for a while. Work, family, motorcycles...I'm easily distracted. :)

I've managed to put together a couple of videos with images from my travels this summer. First, my sister, mother, and my best friend J.C. Wilder went on a cruise to the Alaska Inside Passage. I'm not a huge fan of cruising, but I must say Princess is a nice cruise line. I had a much better experience than the first cruise I took, on a line that shall remain nameless. o_O

One of my main complaints about cruises is that there just isn't enough time to explore the ports. I could have spent a week each in Sitka, Juneau, Ketchikan, and Skagway. Oh, and Victoria, B.C. - such a lovely city! In some cases we had literally only a few hours - in Ketchikan, it was barely enough time to take a tour aboard the Aleutian Ballad, a fishing vessel from Deadliest Catch. Another bit of drama on that trip was that I lost my trusty Sony Cybershot camera on the very first day in Seattle, touching off a frantic trip to Target to get a replacement (which set my teeth on edge because I had to make a decision without having the chance to do tons of research!). I ended up with a Canon PowerShot which I like, but I spent the entire trip learning to use it. LOL Here I've made a video of the best shots with music. Enjoy!


There's also a video of a sled dog ride my sister and I took. Check out my Youtube channel to find it.

Not long after the Alaska trip, my husband, daughter, and her fiance took a return trip to one of my favorite places on earth - the Canadian Rockies. I took over two thousand photographs and am still sifting through them, but I did string together a series of video clips into one themed video I hope you'll enjoy. :)


My daughter is getting married in six months, followed closely by my son a few months later, so things are going to be crazy around my house for a while. The one thing saving my sanity these days has been rides on my MP3, even if it's only a few miles down the river and back. Boy, I'm so not looking forward to winter...unless I invest in some heated gear to keep riding as the snow flies! I might even start motovlogging. Yeah, pretty scary to think I might try talking coherently while negotiating traffic!

If you live in the NW Ohio or SE Michigan region, drop me an email and let's meet up for coffee and a ride!

~Carolan
www.carolanivey.com

Slacker Ghost Hunting and Local Ghost Stories

My bestie J.C. Wilder and I, paranormal authors to the bone, have come to the conclusion that we’d make terrible ghost hunters.

First of all, we talk too much.

Second, real ghost hunters lug heavy equipment. Climb ladders to set up cameras. Schlep up and down stairs. Sit for hours in cold, damp cellars.

We’re simply too high maintenance for that.

A few weeks ago we had a girls-only weekend at her house. She had just downloaded Ghost Radar to her Android phone, and I had a similar program on my laptop. (Not sure if these really work, but they’re fun to mess around with.)

Camped out on her huge, antique, four-poster bed, fuzzy-slippered feet propped up, about 800 pillows arranged just so, dogs squeezed in wherever they could, we fired up our apps and waited. Positive we’d get something, because strange stuff happens in her house all the time.

Like how J.C.’s Mom always says hello to me by making her musical coffee cup play a merry tune.

After about a half hour of picking up random energies and spoken words, getting no answers to out-loud questions, J.C. commented, “We really should move downstairs. That’s where everything happens.”

For about a minute we contemplated the logistics of moving our comfortably parked arses all the way downstairs. (About six steps down, 30 feet as the crow hops.) And incurring the wrath of two tucked-in-for-the-duration pooches.

Neither one of us moved.

“Let’s watch a Medea movie.”

Oh, how the mighty have fallen...

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Holland, Ohio, where I live, is a small bedroom community at Toledo’s southwest edge. You wouldn’t think Toledo would be a hotbed of paranormal activity, and you’d be wrong. There’s a lot of moving water around here – nearby Lake Erie, the Maumee River, and a close-to-the-surface water table just under a glacier-dumped bed of sand. Ghosts tend to feed off the energy of moving water.

Even itty bitty Holland as its hot spot – an old 1800s storefront down by the railroad crossing.

Currently it houses an art glass studio. And a poltergeist. Fortunately the poltergeist would rather fling small objects in the office rather than wreak havoc in the studio! A bit of video taken during Fringe Paranormal’s 2010 investigation shows how careful the ghost is with the fragile glass pieces:



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The Toledo area is also the site of a couple of significant battlegrounds, the “Battle for Ohio,” in which there was a ruckus over a narrow strip of swamp land between Ohio and Michigan. Ohio won, which is the reason my house sits in the Buckeye State. No deaths were reported, except perhaps for that of a startled milk cow.

The more famous Battle of Fallen Timbers, said to be the last battle of the American Revolution, took place not far from my home. Sadly, much of the battlefield has been swallowed up by a highway interchange. But a small section has been preserved by the National Park Service. The forlorn little piece of land between the highway and the river is hard to find unless you really want to find it. A bike path runs through it, connecting the adjacent mall and housing development.

The bloody battle took the lives of 30 of “Mad” Anthony Wayne’s soldiers, as well as twice that number of Ottawa warriors.

A few yards from the towering monument to the white soldiers is Turkey Foot Rock. Marked with a plaque, this is the spot where the Ottawa chief rallied his warriors, and lost his life. If you look closely at the weathered stone, you can still see where surviving tribesmen carved turkey tracks as a memorial. When I visited, someone had left an offering of tobacco and flowers.

It is said that if you sit near the rock on Aug. 20, the anniversary of the battle, you can hear gunfire, screams, and smell gunpowder in the air.



If you're interested in finding out if your corner of the world is haunted, the internet has a number of sites where you can find out. Chances are there's an old building, battlefield, or bridge guaranteed to raise your hair.

Blessed Samhain, everyone!

Carolan Ivey
Romance that will haunt you…
www.carolanivey.com

Interview with Ally Blue

Please welcome Ally Blue, Rainbow Award nominated author of m/m romantic fiction. Thank you for agreeing to be grilled interviewed for the BtV blog's Loud and Proud: LGBT Characters theme month.

My pleasure! I love grilling. As long as someone else is doing it. Heh.

 What is it about m/m stories that drew you to writing m/m romance?

Like a lot of readers of gay romance, I cut my teeth on reading slash fanfic. I started reading that because it was different, it was intriguing, and it was hot. At least when it was well written, LOL.

However, the thing that kept me reading on into original character fiction – and what drew me to writing it as well – was more than that. I found myself fascinated with the dynamic between two men in a romantic relationship.

It’s so different from the dynamic between a man and a woman. I’m not talking about power or equality here, though there’s always an element of that in any male/female relationship in our society, even in fiction (and I’m not getting into that here because no one wants to hear me preach from my soapbox, ha). You can have plenty of inequalities for one reason or another between two men, and there will be power struggles more often than not, I guess.

The difference in dynamic is because men simply interact with one another in a different way from how they interact with women. That’s interesting to me, and I like to explore it. Plus there’s the factor of the unknown and unknowable. I’m biologically female and I identify female as my gender, therefore I can never be involved in a gay male relationship. This makes that relationship the most fascinating one in the world to me. It’s simple human nature.  

Other than the H&H both being male, would you consider your stories to be traditional romance? I guess what I'm getting at is, with the moving target called "erotic", would you consider your books erotic by today's yardstick?

Not really, no. Some of my older ones are erotic by anyone’s standards, since they have a lot of sex scenes, but they’re all pretty vanilla, I think. I don’t do BDSM or D/s or any of that stuff which is so popular now. A few of my guys have dabbled with some toys, but they’re really just playing, not invested in any hardcore lifestyle. There was one three-way in Love’s Evolution and a pretty intense episode with plants in Fireflies but mostly my boys just do it the old-fashioned way, even when they do it a lot. LOL.  

A common complaint I hear about m/m romance is that authors take a female character and simply change her feminine name to masculine, and call it m/m. How do you "keep it real", and do you think this is a core reason why readers love your work?

 I always start by considering my characters as people, not just gay men. They have backgrounds – parents, extended families, childhood and teen experiences that shaped them, etc. They have jobs, favorite colors, music they love, bad habits, particular ways they dress, pet peeves, personal values and morals, strong opinions. They’re talented at some things and terrible at others. They have personalities of their own that develop more and more as I outline the story, and even more as I write it.

 I think when a character doesn’t come alive, it’s because an author sees that character as a character, not a person. No one is going to care about your hero if he’s just a generic gay man you stuck in the lead role for the sole purpose of being a gay man in a book. He has to be real, which means being a gay man is only a small part of who he is. I like to think my guys are pretty real, and that’s why those who love my books love them. I have a lot of fans who are gay men, which makes me very happy.

As the mother of a newly minted RN, I know how much self-discipline it takes to get through nursing school. Does your nursing background carry over into your writing M.O.? What's a typical writing day like?

Man, I wish self-discipline spilled over into my writing life. Sadly, it doesn’t as much as it should. I graduated nursing school almost 25 years ago, which was B.C. for me (Before Children), when I was marginally more organized than I am now and had WAY more free time. LOL. These days, I have no “typical” writing day. It all depends on what else is going on. I work part-time, which is awesome because I have a lot more time to write than I did when I had to work full-time.

On work days, I write when I get home. Unless it’s one of those 10 or 11 hour days, in which case my brain is usually fried and I just fall on the couch and watch TV like a total slug. I never know what kind of day it’s going to be, which is fine because I get paid by the hour. :D On my off days, I check my email, Twitter, etc. then try to get some writing done while I’m having coffee and breakfast. After that I go for a run – I’m training for a half-marathon in September, yikes! Wish me luck! – then get back to writing unless I have other things that need doing.

My goal is always between 1K and 2K words per day, so that if I get more than that I’ll feel really good about myself, LOL. Sometimes I make the goal and sometimes I go over. If I have other obligations, I might not make the goal. Like the last month, when I had one kid graduate college and the other graduate high school. I’ve either been out of town or had family at my house almost constantly, which has put me WAY behind, but it was all for a good cause.

Congratulations to your new RN! That’s wonderful! We need more dedicated nurses.

Thank you! And good luck with the half marathon! Which comes first for you when it comes to inspiration for stories – does a character pop into your head? Or a place that compels you to set a story there? Or a situation you hear or read about that sets off the "what if" domino effect?

It’s happened to me in all of those ways, and others. Probably characters come to me first more often than anything else, but I’ve been inspired by places and situations lots of times. The Happy Onion was actually inspired by a cartoon on the back of a grocery store delivery truck. LOL.  

Though writing is essentially a solitary profession, we do seem to find our "herd". Where do m/m authors and readers congregate? Are there specific conferences that are good places to go to meet and connect?

Oh man. I don’t get to go to nearly the number of conferences I’d like, so I’m not positive about most of them. But GayRomLit is probably THE gay romance con to hit. In fact it might be the only one, I’m not sure. This year will only be its second year, but after the kickoff in New Orleans in 2011 it’s already gained a reputation as the best conference for gay romance authors and readers to gather to hang out, talk, play and generally raise hell. Heh.

This year’s con is in Albuquerque. I didn’t make it last year, but I’ll be there this year, yay! I think the m/m crowd manages to find each other at any conference, though, simply because we’re usually in the minority. We tend to make plans pre-con to get together for drinks or dinner or whatever. Usually drinks. :)  

How has writing m/m changed your own relationships with the men in your life?

I think that simply meeting and hanging out with so many more gay men than before gives me more patience with my men (husband, son, dad, friends, etc.) because I’ve gained more insight into some of the things they do and say. My gay friends tend to be more like me than any of the other men in my life – that is, they say what they think, they don’t hold back, they tell the whole truth. They talk to me, in other words, which is something it’s difficult to get some other men to do.

 Of course I can’t extrapolate that behavior onto all gay men, any more than I can say all straight men like comic books just because my husband does. But I like being able to talk openly with my friends, and I’ve been able to figure out a surprising amount about the other men I love from those conversations. Which is awesome.

 Has it affected your own sexuality?

Ha, interesting question! No, it hasn’t. Which is not to say I haven’t learned some fascinating things about the range and scope of human sexuality, because I have. I’ve met many people who identify as gay, lesbian, transgender, pansexual, and other “nontraditional” sexualities. I feel like my life is much richer for having met so many wonderful people who are so different from me in their sexuality, and realizing first hand that we’re all pretty much the same tough, tender, loving, vulnerable human beings inside.  

Would you consider writing a f/f romance?

I would if I thought I could write one that wasn’t crap, but I seriously doubt I could. I’ve tried writing female leads before and they come off sounding like men. Which is maybe a little weird, but there you go. LOL. That’s why I don’t write m/f romance also. I can’t write a realistic female romantic lead! That seriously annoys me about myself.  

I am a native Tarheel living in "exile" in Ohio, so I envy your location in the western NC mountains! Do you find that living in what many consider the "Bible Belt" makes it more difficult to be "loud and proud' about writing in the LGBT genre?

Oh, definitely, yes. Not so much because of the public in general. I live close to Asheville, which is pretty much a shining liberal jewel in a dark conservative sea, and Buncombe County is one of the ones where the populace voted against the notorious Amendment One. But I have to keep my writing under wraps because there’s no guarantee I wouldn’t get fired from my day job if they found out about it. They can fire an employee for any outside activity that, in their sole opinion, reflects poorly on the organization.

I don’t know for sure that I’d get fired for writing gay romance, but I’m not betting my income on it. I don’t make nearly enough from writing to support just myself, never mind my whole family. Maybe I’m wrong, but I can’t help thinking this wouldn’t be an issue in a more generally open-minded area.  

What's next in the publishing pipeline for you?

Graceland releases from Samhain on July 3rd, and Demon Dog, the first book in my brand-new Mojo Mysteries series, is scheduled for release from Samhain in December. Aside from that, I’m working on one – still untitled at this point – that should release from MLR Press in October if I can manage to finish it in time. We shall see. O_O

After that I promised my Samhain editor, the lovely and magnificent Sasha Knight, that I’d whip up a proposal for an urban fantasy. Well, my take on it anyway. I have an idea I really, really like and am anxious to start working on.  

Now for the important question. Eastern or Western NC barbecue?

LOL. I really prefer Western. Always have. So delightfully saucy and spicy!  

Thank you for joining us, Ally!

Thanks for having me, it’s been fun :)
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Visit Ally's web site at www.allyblue.com

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Carolan Ivey
www.carolanivey.com

Celtic Ogham Divination: Ioho (Yew)

Name:Ioho, pronounced ee-yoh or ee-woh (some sources say Idad, pronounced ee-duh, which means "mastery")
Tree: Yew
Letter: I, J or Y
Color: Dark green, some sources say bright white
Element: Water
Bird/Animal: Eagle or spider
Deities: Caílte and Oisín (poet/warriors, lone survivors of the Fianna), Tuan mac Cairill (reclusive guardian of Ireland who reincarnated as different animals over 2000-plus years to witness repeated invasions of Ireland); Hecate (crone aspect of the triple goddess)
Month: None
Planet: Saturn or Pluto

Yew is the last of the "traditional" ogham symbols, so it is sometimes called the "oldest letter" or "older than letters." Ideas associated with yew are transformation, rebirth, immortality, transference, passage, illusion, and transition.

As most, if not all, parts of the tree are toxic, it is known as the death tree. It's wood is extremely strong and springy, so it was often used to make longbows, and extract from the berries used to poison the tips of arrows and swords. Because it grows slowly, it is too easily overharvested, so it is not as abundant as it once was; those trees that are left tend to have crooked, twisted trunks and branches.

Its aspect is feminine; in recent years taxol, a substance derived from the bark, has shown promise in fighting breast cancer.

Another interesting fact about yew is that as the tree ages, the outer wood dies, rots and falls away and a new tree grows from within.

"Yew is the link to spiritual guidance through your ancestors, guides and guardians in the Otherworld. The Yew is here to remind us that there are other levels of existence beyond this material plane. By understanding the illusionary nature of the life we have created for ourselves, we can live our lives more consciously. Often death is fraught with a sense of loss, but the Yew can teach us to see death as a form of transformation and that it is never final." (Source, The White Dragon, 1997 article)

Long ago, clan leaders were buried beneath yew trees, and clan members conducted rituals at the tree to connect with those departed leaders to ask for guidance. Therefore the tree symbolizes connection to the ancestors through old stories, lore and tradition.

When yew appears in your reading, it is telling you you've been holding on to something for too long and it's time to either let it go or pass it on. It's a reminder to take comfort in the fact that nothing lasts forever. Spiritually, it is not unlike the Tarot's Death card, signalling that change is afoot and you need to let it happen. Change is your friend, not your enemy. Without change, we don't grow.

Stay tuned for another in this series next time!
Carolan
www.carolanivey.com

Lá Fhéile Pádraig Sona Daoibh!

I had plans to finally do a proper blog post today...until my daughter took a tumble and not only dislocated her ankle but broke it as well! And she tried to pass it off as a sprain. (smacking forehead)

What is it they say about nurses and doctors making the worst patients? Sheesh. "It's just a flesh wound, I'll be okay! Let me just drag myself up the stairs to my apartment and stick a package of frozen peas on it. No, don't tell Mom, she'll freak!"

So no partying for us! Just a quiet night at home with a pot of Beef 'n' Guinness Stew, a pint of Smithwick's, and watching The Quiet Man with a kid in a cast on the couch. :) Oh, and her boyfriend, who has stuck by her side through the whole ordeal of emergency rooms, surgery, bad reactions to a medication, another trip to the ER...

Yeah, it was that kind of day. :) But all is well and I am grateful.

My recipe is roughly:

About a pound of stew beef cut into bite size cubes
About a half cup apple cider
1 bottle Guinness stout
2 Tb tomato paste or puree (ketchup is fine)
Half a large onion, diced small
1 or 2 cloves garlic, mashed
Beef broth OR water with beef bouillion cubes OR just water
Cup of baby carrots
2 medium parsnips, chopped
4 to 8 red potatoes, depending on the size and how many you like. Peel and quarter, or just leave the peels on.

"Sweat" the onions and garlic over medium low heat in a little olive oil until soft. Meanwhile, pat the cubed meat dry with paper towels. Heat a little olive oil over medium heat in a heavy skillet. Brown the meat a few cubes at a time just until it is nicely browned but not cooked through. Transfer meat to pot with onions/garlic as they get browned.

Deglaze skillet with some of the Guinness, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom. Add to pot with meat and onions. Add apple cider and the rest of the Guinness and bring to slow simmer and stir in tomato paste. Let it work while you chop the rest of the veggies. Add them to the pot and add more water or beef broth to cover. Taste and add some salt or beef bouillion cubes if needed (remember it'll cook down so go easy on the salt). Cover and simmer slowly several hours. Taste again before serving to adjust seasonings, if needed. Add some black pepper to taste. Serve with hot buttered rolls.

Have a great day! Be safe, use a designated driver! :)

Carolan
www.carolanivey.com

Apologies and KILTS!

Poking my head above water to apologize for leaving dead air on the blog today! I hope these pictures of kilty goodness will make up for it...

Carolan

Merry holidays!

However you celebrate the return of the light, may it be filled with blessings. :)



Dia duit,
Carolan
www.carolanivey.com

Braaaaaaaaiiiins!

Last night, the zombies took over Adams Street in downtown Toledo! My husband and I donned our biker gear and went out in search of a few brains to munch on at the second annual Zombie Crawl. This is probably the one time that turning off the red-eye reduction on the camera is actually a good thing. :)

This was one night we elected not to ride the Harley. Are you kidding me? With all those blood-hungry monsters roaming the alleys? [shudder]

Happy Halloween, everyone!

Carolan Ivey
www.carolanivey.com

I have this love-hate relationship with TV. I used to work in a busy newspaper office, and I got used to the constant buzz of background noise – conversations, phones ringing, keyboards tapping. Once I started freelancing, working primarily from home – or in a “normal” office – the silence was deafening.

So I’ve gotten used to flipping on the TV just for the background noise. Funnily enough, I can’t work to the sound of the radio. Talk radio, even my beloved NPR, is distracting, music even more so. Music flips on the wrong side of my brain for my more technical freelance work, and interferes with my thought process when I’m working on a story. Probably because I’m so musically oriented. When I’m performing, my whole being is focused on it.

But TV? Easy to ignore, easy to stare at mindlessly while the back of my brain works out a problem or a knotty sentence structure. My husband fusses at me for having it on all day, which he says will burn out the screen. But hey, isn’t he about ready for a flat-screen? I’m just helping things along!

Having said all of the above, I have a few guilty pleasures.

Ghost Hunters - though my family groans when I remind them it’s Wednesday night, and constantly mock me and the show in the background while I’m trying to watch. I don’t care…it’s still the best ghost hunting show on TV, all others are pale imitations or just plain annoying (*cough*GhostAdventures*cough*).

(Trivia: Did you know Jason has an amazing smile? I never knew he COULD smile until I saw him as a guest on Millionaire. It's actually quite brilliant.)

Supernatural - Despite my issues with the show’s tendency to wander off the main story line, it’s still a riveting story arc. I rarely watch it on TV anymore, though – I wait and watch it online later.

Vampire Diaries – Actually this show is too teeny bop for me, but day-um, Damon is hot… :D

America’s Next Top Model – Every time I watch this show, I wonder why. LOL I’m kinda winding down with this one, however back when it first started a friend of mine (*cough*JCWilder*cough*) and I would watch it together – by instant messaging back and forth while it was on. How geeky is that?

Project Runway – I think this show falls into the same category as ANTM, at least on one of the reasons why it’s fascinating. It involves a creative process where the participants literally have to bust out a finished product in an impossibly short period of time – flaws and all. It’s not unlike NaNoWriMo. Puke it out, even if it’s ugly. Put it out for critique and learn to listen, even if it’s bad. Chances are better than excellent that you’ll take away something from it that’ll become your signature style. Like Say Yes To The Dress, or What Not To Wear, throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks.

Anthony Bourdain/No Reservations – I mean, really. Who wouldn’t want to have a job where you get to travel the world, experience the best (and maybe the worst) of each region’s food and culture, and write about it? I want to BE him. (Okay, maybe I just want to be as TALL as him.)

Deadliest Catch – Bait the pot, drop the pot, pull the pot. The breathless anticipation of what’s in the pot wore off a long time ago. What keeps me coming back are the human stories. Though I’m the first one to recognize that these things are heavily edited for drama. Now I just want to be there when Keith finally gets a handle on his temper – or strokes out. Root for the Harris boys to rise to the challenges before them. Look for Edgar to be standing on the dock when Sig brings the Northwestern home. And you know what, I’d really like to see the right woman bring that hard-ass Johnathan to his knees.

So readers, since most of the above shows are going to be winding down, help me pick out something new to obsess about. What do you like?

In fact, let’s have a contest! Leave a comment and I’ll draw a winner. I brought back a bag full of books and swag from the Authors After Dark con, and it all needs a home!

Happy reading,
Carolan

www.carolanivey.com

Characters you love to hate...or hate to love?

In my first completed manuscript (which is still growing mold in some long-forgotten drawer) my focus was so ferociously on the hero & heroine that the antagonists didn’t even make an appearance. They were just some faceless entities that had, for no apparent reason other than that They Were Evil, scarred the protagonists’ careers, psyches, and lives in general.


My second manuscript, Beaudry’s Ghost, had a bad guy on stage, even a scene from his POV. Confederate Lt. Zachariah Harris was one of those gleefully vicious, vindictive villains that seemed easy-—too frighteningly easy-—to write. (Did I just use three “v” words in a row??) All he had to do was wield sharp objects and attempt to kill the hero in the end.


Third time around with A Ghost of a Chance, I went with a more insidious villain with a subtler technique for working his evil-doings. A method that, in real life, too often sucks otherwise intelligent women into bad relationships. (Aside: How funny that in a book full of concepts like astral travel and all manner of psychic phenomena and sexy shapeshifters, one reviewer zeroed in on this villain as the least believable part of the story! But that’s fodder for another post.)


Creating three-dimensional heroes and heroines seems to come much easier to me. I’m still working on developing equally rounded villains. Not too long ago I was surprised to learn even the great Stephen Spielberg looks back at “Raiders of the Lost Ark” with pangs of regret. After completing his masterpiece “Schindler’s List”, he said something to the affect that in comparison, the bad guys in “Raiders” were ridiculously cartoonish, almost to the point of being an insult to those who suffered an died at the hands of the Nazis. By the time “Last Crusade” hit the screens, he’d given at least one or two of the Nazi characters some depth.


George Lucas, as well, spent three entire Star Wars movies making us fall in love with Anakin Skywalker before he vanished behind Darth Vader’s helmet. Did it change the way you watched Luke Skywalker's story arc? It did for me.


It’s fascinating to know that everyone, even the best of us, goes through a learning curve.


When I think about it, the stories I like best are the ones that make me ambivalent about wholeheartedly hating the villain. After all, no one is born inherently bad. At some point, he or she was someone’s child, grandchild, brother or sister…maybe even a mother or father. As a writer I think it’s my job to bring all those factors into play when creating a character, even the ones who—-for the purposes of that particular story—-were born to be bad. :)


Can you think of characters, evil or otherwise, in a book you’ve read or a movie you’ve seen that leave you waffling over whether to hate or love them? Or who came back as a hero in a sequel? Here are a couple of mine:

• Jimmy Angelov in “Practical Magic” (okay, only because Goran Visnjic is freakin’ HOT!)
• V in “V for Vendetta” – Hero or psychopath?
• Ilsa in “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade”
• Walter White in “Breaking Bad”
• Severus Snape in the Harry Potter books/movies. Whose heart didn't break for him when we learned his real motivation? (Mine did, and Alan Rickman's on-screen interpretation brought tears to my eyes.)

Love to hear your thoughts!


Carolan
www.carolanivey.com

Between Two Fires: Earth Day to Beltane

Eadar dà theine Bhealltainn. The Highland Scots honored the ancient traditions of May Day by casting juniper boughs upon two bonfires, then passing between them for purification and luck.

These days, our planet Earth could use a bit of both.

Here are a few things you can do to celebrate both Earth Day (April 22) and May Day/Beltane!

1. Declutter and donate. As long as you're spring cleaning, do it right! Be ruthless and get rid of anything you haven't seen, touched or used in more than a year. Don't just pitch everything, though. Your local Goodwill, Salvation Army or homeless/domestic abuse shelters can use:
   
   Furniture
   - Clothing & shoes
   - Small appliances
   - Toys, games and books
   - Older but still functioning computers/laptops
   - Unused toiletries leftover from when you went crazy at that last 2-for-1 sale
   
   
2. Recycle all those cardboard Christmas gift boxes you've got stuffed under the bed. (Yes, dear hubby, I'm talking to you!)
   
   
3. Your local chapter of the American Association of University Women or Friends of the Library might appreciate your old books.
   
   
4. Send your used paperback novels to soldiers serving overseas.
   
   
5. Plastic grocery bags - there's a reason these are being outlawed in some states. Please don't throw these out with the garbage - save them and drop them in the collection box many grocery stores have their front doors.
   
   
6. Oh, but keep a few to stuff in your pocket to collect trash on your next walk in the park.
   
   
7. Take a stand against climate change and observe Earth Hour. Turn off electrical appliances, lights, computers, etc. for one hour. Do something crazy, like, um...talk to your kids and your spouse! ;)
   
   
8. A great project for schools, churches, scout troops, etc. - Earth Day Groceries Project. "Borrow" paper bags from the grocery store (ask the manager), decorate them with earth-friendly messages, and return them to the store to be given to customers.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
   
   
9. Put your talent to work! Contribute a photograph to the Earth Day State of the Earth photo project.
   
   
10. Learn about kid and pet friendly, toxin-free cleaning products. Can't find these in the store? Make your own!
    
    
11. Take a hard look at your overstuffed linen closet (come one, admit it, you know you have one!) and take out at least half of what's in there. My guess is you've got more towels and maybe sheets than you need or use. Your local animal shelter would love to have them! Here are a few more ideas.
    
    
12. Save a few tin cans from the recycle bin and make Tin Can Herb Pots.
    
    
13. Don't throw out that broken wooden chair - or that half a can of leftover house paint. Make a Faerie Chair!

Happy Earth Day and Blessed Beltane!

Carolan
www.carolanivey.com

Blogging over on the Samhain blog: "Things that make you wish you'd worn a Depends..."

Carolan

Divination: Celtic Ogham - Fearn

Tree: Alder
Letter: F and V
Color: Crimson
Element: Water
Bird: Raven (some sources say Gull)
Deities: Lugh, Bran,
Month: March/April (some sources say January)
Planet: Mars
Crystal: Amethyst
Chakras: Sacral, base and solar plexus

Alder is about balance, compassion and self-preservation. Its root systems are said to return poor soils to healthy pH levels. The Druids regarded Fearn as indicating balance between the male/female energies within the individual.

Associated with death and resurrections, Alder sticks were once used to measure graves. When cut cleanly, a branch first 'bleeds' white, then turns red. In addition, it regenerates itself by sprouting from remaining stumps.

Alder grows in wet places near rivers, streams and in swamps. Its wood, resistant to rot, was used for things that needed to last, like building foundation pilings, milk buckets, bridges and boats. In fact, the wetter it gets, the stronger it gets - let it dry out, and it'll get brittle and break. It was also used to make magical whistles, a figurative bridge between earth and heaven.

It was once said that if you cut one down, its angry spirit might burn your house. Which makes sense, because its charcoal was an excellent ingredient for gunpowder.

When Fearn appears in a reading, it is reminding you to keep a lid on your temper. Keep your eyes open for the unique qualities alive in others. Be a bridge of mediation in a dispute. Look for the unusual or what's "off" or out of place/balance. Stop talking and start listening...then be the voice of reason. Let your intuition be your guide. Fearn is a symbol of the evolving spirit.

The ancient Celts used Alder to make their shields, and used their instincts to know when to attack, when to shield, and when to use their strength to promote peace among warring peoples.

Nollaig chridhiel!

Best wishes from us to you this holiday season!

BEANNACHT
by John O'Donohue

On the day when
The weight deadens
On your shoulders
And you stumble,
May the clay dance
To balance you.
And when your eyes
Freeze behind
The grey window
And the ghost of loss
Gets into you,
May a flock of colours,
Indigo, red, green
And azure blue,
Come to awaken in you
A meadow of delight.
When the canvas frays
In the currach of thought
And a stain of ocean
Blackens beneath you,
May there come across the waters
A path of yellow moonlight
To bring you safely home.
May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
May the clarity of light be yours,
May the fluency of the ocean be yours,
May the protection of the ancestors be yours.
And so may a slow
Wind work these words
Of love around you,
An invisible cloak
To mind your life.

Doubly Blessed

I think one of my biggest problems as a writer is that I love to read.

You wouldn’t think that’d be an issue, would you? Well, it is…especially when your thought process goes like mine.

Wow, this book is good.
(reads more)
No, this story is AMAZING.
(reads to the end, looks at her own current WIP)
What am I doing? Nothing I write will ever be as good as [insert title or author here].
(Is sorely tempted to hit the delete button and go back to her day job.)

Then, out of the blue, a bright little ray of validation appears. An email from a fan. A royalty statement that showed an unexpected uptick in sales. This week, a squee from my editor – I’d received my second RT Reviewer’s Choice nomination.

What makes this doubly sweet is that it’s for book 2 of my Legends series, A Ghost of a Chance. Book 1, Beaudry’s Ghost was also an RT nominee. The more I think about it, the more I’m simply…floored.

In this, the second holiday season since my father died, the initial numbness is wearing off. The good: the urge to write is coming back. The bad: missing him seems more acute since last year, which sometimes freezes my fingers over the keyboard with thoughts of "WWDT" - what would Daddy think? Then some of his last words to me come back, especially when I confided to him my hesitancy to write what I really want to write, for fear of the shock it might cause among people who know me: "I will be just as proud of you as I am no, no matter what."

Guess it’s time to dig that WIP out of the recycle bin, eh? :)

Carolan
www.carolanivey.com

Subtitle: In order to remember what it's like to feel alive, sometimes it's necessary to do something that scares the sh!t outta you.

So, I've been a little MIA this summer. As soon as the weather got nice, my husband and I have been out on his Harley whenever it's a nice day. This is our second summer with the bike, a '99 Ultra Classic, and while it's a blast riding behind my husband, I've been getting the itch to learn to ride, myself. I figured, hey, I know how to drive a stick shift. How hard can it be?

[insert hysterical laughter here]

Those of you who know me even a little know that I've had rheumatoid arthritis virtually all my life. I've done pretty well overall, thanks to modern medicines and joint replacement technology. Normal, everyday activities are usually not too big of an issue. Still, the prospect of working a clutch with my teeny little hands and not my foot had me working on strength training for a few weeks leading up to a weekend beginning riders course.

Day 1 of the riding portion of my Motorcycle Safety Foundation class dawned dreary and rainy, and I'm thinking, "Perfect! If this doesn't cure me of my fear of wet surfaces, nothing will."

I arrive, gear up, and walk down the row to select my bike, preferably one with a low seat. I got on a Honda Rebel, red, and my tush went "aaahhhh!!" It seems to be a good fit. Next step, overcome my first fear: balancing the bike. I put the kickstand up and leaned it back and forth, not real far, but got a feel for the weight. Okay, seems doable, and it's clear I'm not going to tip over just sitting still with my feet on the ground.

Did I mention it's pouring rain by now? I'm glad I put the visor back on my helmet.

Finally comes the moment to start the engine. I hit the button and how can I describe the feeling? I can't. Those of you who ride know what I'm talking about. Next, power walking, which brings me to my second concern - the clutch. First power walk completed, though I'm the slowest in the class. I'm struggling to find the friction zone as my hand strains and quickly starts getting sore. I manage a couple of sloooow power walks and by this time my fear of balancing while the bike is in motion is gone.

The trainer encourages me to go a bit faster and get my feet up. Nope, still can't find the friction zone (the point where you're letting out the clutch and the engine catches hold), and as I fight a losing battle with the clutch, I forget about the throttle. I give it a little gas, feel the engine staaaaaart to engage, then my clutch hand slips and, to my great surprise, I'm zipping along at maybe 8 to 10 mph but it felt like lightspeed!

There wasn't time to be scared. It was more like, "What the...? Oh. Let off the throttle, retrieve the clutch. Oh, and braking would be handy!" I get it stopped quickly, hit the kill switch and sit there for a minute to assess. Yeah, I know what happened. Still, I'm not really scared, just a bit startled. The trainer comes over and laughs, and cheers me back to the starting line. Okay. One more time. No more clutch slipping, but I still can't find the friction zone and I turtle across the range, straining with my left hand at the clutch. The I fought with it, the less my throttle hand cooperated.

Still raining. Oh, and I can't seem to get the bike from first to neutral without accidentally popping into 2nd. Balky gear shift, or rider ineptitude? At this point, hard to tell.

Meanwhile my clutch hand is getting increasingly tired and sore, and it's only been an hour since I started the engine. It's clear that my learning curve is going to be way too wide for this class - which by this time have all mastered power walking and are waiting for me after every revolution. After yet another of countless stall outs, I signaled the trainer and withdrew. My hand wasn't going to make it through the five hours ahead of me.

I sat down to watch the rest of the session. I held back tears for a few minutes, mainly because I'd wanted to ace the class in memory of my Dad. But as the class wore on I knew I'd made the right decision. I learned tons just by watching. It was fun to watch the beginning riders' faces light up and grins get bigger as they mastered each step.

At the end, both trainers told me that I was the first person who'd ever actually stayed to watch the rest of all-day session after withdrawing. They could see I'm determined and encouraged me to try again. A couple of the more experienced students in the class also talked to me and gave me advice, which was really nice. They all said I could work on my hand strength, but they thought might do better on a scooter, which doesn't involve a clutch. At least to build my confidence until I'm ready to look for that elusive friction zone again.

So, the bottom line is, by charging head-on into doing something that scares the crap out of me, I put a few unfounded fears to rest. And I'm confident that someday soon, I'll finally feel the wind in my face under my own power.

It was a pretty awesome day. :)

Carolan
www.carolanivey.com

Special shout-out to my new friends at VTwinMama.com. You ladies rock!

We interrupt this blog for a special announcement...

I was preparing my blog post for today when an urgent message landed in my email box concerning author and Samhain editor Jennifer Haymore. She has been diagnosed with breast cancer. Her sister authors at the Danger: Women Writing blog are working to raise money to donate to breast cancer research. Samhain will be joining this cause as well, with events to be announced.

In the meantime, if you'd like to help, go to the Dangerous web site to find out how.



Cheers,
Carolan
www.carolanivey.com

Ghost Story Time!

Anyone up for a couple of true, spooky tales? Okay, grab your wooby (or whatever security device you use) and hang on.

Last week I took my son Dylan and his girlfriend, Katie, down to North Carolina with me to visit my Mom. Now, Mom says she doesn't believe in ghosts, but the family history is littered with strange phenomena - and my sister and I always swore she was psychic. Plus, when we were growing up, Mom used her ability to move as silently as a ghost through the house to her best advantage. You NEVER knew when she was going to appear behind you just as you had your proverbial hand in the cookie jar.

So anyway, last week on a Thursday night, Mom and I attended a Piedmont Wind Symphony concert, in which my sister plays bass clarinet. It was a benefit concert for Home Moravian Church in historic Old Salem. (In fact, the photo on the web site's home page was taken that night in the church. My sister is on the far right in the second row.) But I digress, as usual.

While we were enjoying the concert, my son texted me with weather updates. A powerful storm cell was heading straight for us, and tornado sirens were going off all over the region. Mom and I were sitting in the balcony, so I kept one eye on the stained glass windows, figuring if the hanging light fixtures started to sway in the 400-year-old building, we'd head for lower ground.

I texted Dylan to get to the basement with Katie, and to please unplug my laptop on the way. When we got home, all was well, but Dylan was stuttering with excitement and poor Katie was white as a sheet, teeth chattering. And not because of the storm. They're Ohio kids - tornado warnings are routine for them. They were already in the basement before I told them to go there.

Slowly, between the two of them, the story came out. When they first went down to the basement - which is Mom's ginormous sewing area - both Dylan and Katie had the distinct feeling they weren't alone. Almost simultaneously, Katie said "I feel like someone else is in here" and Dylan said "I feel like Grandpa just walked into the room." (My father died about a year ago, and hadn't been able to leave the ground floor for several years prior.)

They shrugged it off, turned on the TV and watched the weather channel. Keep in mind my mother's dress form sits just off to the right of the TV, within eyeline. It's always facing toward the center of the room.

When Dylan come downstairs from unplugging computers, he noticed something odd. The dress form was turned a quarter turn toward the wall. He made a comment but Katie hadn't noticed it before. A bit later, he went back upstairs for some ice cream. When he came back down, Katie was curled up on the couch, shaking.

She had seen the dress form slowly spinning around by itself. It now had its back to the room. Of course, Katie was scared to death, but Dylan laughed and said "It's just Grandpa messing with you. He wouldn't tease you if he didn't like you."

Indeed, when my sister and I were growing up and had sleepovers with friends, Dad delighted in finding ways to scare the bejeebers out of us!

Later on that night, in the wee hours, I was sitting alone in the family room playing Vampire Wars on Facebook (a game that kept me sane while Dad was in hospice). Dad was always a night owl, and when we visited I always sat up late with him while he worked on his computer or recorded old movies from a classic movie channel. We didn't always talk, just kept each other company.

The house has a security system with motion detectors all over the place. Even when it's disarmed, you can hear a faint "beep" when you walk through a room and break one of the invisible beams.

So as I sat there in the silence, nothing in the room was moving. Yet I kept hearing that quiet little "beep" at odd intervals. It was coming from the detector right behind where Dad's favorite chair used to sit. After about the sixth or seventh beep, I glanced in that direction and said softly, "Hi Dad. I know you're here. Now go to bed."

The beeps stopped. Smiling to myself, I went back to killing virtual vampires. Comforted that our loved ones never really leave us.

--Carolan

www.carolanivey.com

(Image from Scarier Than Norman Bates' Mother by C. Taylor)

P.S. - Hey, don't forget, the annual Spring Showers extravaganza is coming up on Coffee Time Romance! Click here for details.