Anna's Blog

Coming Next September!

December 30th, 2010

I just got the cover image for Sunrise of Avalon and (of course!) wanted to share:

This is another of those ‘author moments’ and one of my favorites. It’s just pure, pure wonderful fun to see what image my book is going to wear when it meets the world. I’m so lucky the art department at Touchstone does such a lovely job every time!

And have I shared the back cover copy on Sunrise yet? Maybe so, but I’ll share it again here in honor of the pretty cover. I’m so excited to have this book moving steadily closer to being out in the world–the final chapter in Trystan and Isolde’s story, and I’ll be able to share it at last. The publication date has been set for September 13 of 2011, so mark your calendars!

In the final installment of Anna Elliott’s Twilight of Avalon trilogy, Trystan and Isolde continue their romance and adventure to protect their beloved Britain from threats both old and new.

Former High Queen Isolde and Trystan, a mercenary with a lonely and troubled past, have undertaken a dangerous mission and endured a perilous journey to keep the traitorous Lord Marche from the throne of Britain. But now a new traitor lurks amongst the kings on Britain’s High Council, and a new danger calls Trystan from Isolde’s side and tests the strength of their secret marriage vow.

As the clouds of war gather, Isolde and Trystan must once again fight to protect Britain’s throne. Together, they hold the key that can defeat Octa of Kent and Lord Marche. And yet the cost of Britain’s sovereignty may be their own forbidden love.

Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments »

Author Moments

December 24th, 2010

I don’t usually feel like an ‘author’ most days. A writer, sure–I’ve been writing every day for more than ten years now and my stories are always, always in my head, every minute of the day and night, begging me to write them down. But the whole being a published author part? Honestly, it’s still kind of surreal. I see my books on a bookstore shelf or see them mentioned online or get an e-mail from someone who’s read one and it’s like, Whoa, wait, I wrote that!

I call those moments ‘author moments’ when it suddenly hits me that my books really are out there in the world and that other people–thousands of people I’ve never met and never will–are reading it. It’s wild. And wonderful! And amazing!

So this week I had one of my most fun author moments ever, when this video popped up on my google alerts in my in-box. Do you know about google alerts? Most authors have them, I think. You set it up so that any time someone mentions you or your book on-line, you get an e-mail about it. So be careful what you say, we authors are watching you! (Kidding! Kidding!)

Anyway, what popped up on my google alerts was this video from Youtube. It’s Morgan and Arthur’s story–my Morgan and Arthur from the prologue of Twilight of Avalon.

Twilight of Avalon–the beginning

I love it! It’s so beautifully done and so amazing for me to watch. It captures the spirit of the book so well it’s like watching my story brought to life.

Happy Holidays, everyone! And special thanks to Ana, the lovely creator of the video, for my favorite early Christmas gift and for letting me link to it here!

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Books Books Books, Children’s edition

December 18th, 2010

Yesterday I was over on Writer Unboxed, blogging about maintaining enthusiasm in a career in writing. And I forgot to mention it here! But stop by, there were some very thoughtful responses in comments.

And as promised, I wanted to share my absolute favorite children’s picture books. We love the ‘classics’ of course, but since everyone knows about Brown Bear Brown Bear and The Very Hungry Caterpillar, I wanted to share a couple of lesser-known titles here, ones you may not have heard about.

First: The Fourteen Bears in Summer and Winter

I LOVE this book. It was actually one of my favorites when I was small, and now my two girls love it just as much. The pictures are so gorgeous you’ll want to crawl inside them and live in the bears’ world, promise! And the stories are sweet and lovely. There’s a repeated line: “The fourteen bears walked paw in paw through the forest. And the birds sang, and the breeze blew, and the sun beat on their ears.” Now, when Bella was 2 or so, we were working on memorizing prayers and were learning one that reads, “Oh God, educate these children, these children are the plants of Thine orchard, the flowers of Thy meadow, the roses of Thy garden. Let Thy rain fall upon them; let the Sun of Reality shine upon them with Thy love.”

Except that we had read the Fourteen Bears story so many times that Bella would consistently get mixed up and say, “Let Thy rain fall upon them; let the Sun of Reality beat down on their ears.”

Hmmm, I seem to be running out of nap-time to blog, but I’ll do one more:

Peek-a-boo, by Janet and Alan Ahlberg.

This book is so charming. So, so charming and sweet. Lovely rhyming verses and adorable, beautifully detailed pictures. And every time I read it, I am delighted by the fact that the house is much messier than mine!

More coming soon. And a cover for Sunrise of Avalon, too!

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

Books Books Books

December 12th, 2010

Someone asked me in an interview recently what books I could recommend–which made me realize that even though I read constantly, I don’t post nearly often enough about what books I’ve been reading recently. So here are just a few of my recent favorites. I’d say right in time for the holiday season, but I personally never need things like holidays for an excuse to buy books!

Seer of Sevenwaters, by Juliet Marillier.

I’ve read every single book Juliet Mariller has ever written–twice!–and oh my gosh, is this one a must-read for any fans of her Sevenwaters series. Utterly, utterly gorgeous, it’s the story of Sibeal, a girl on the verge of making her final pledge as a druid. But when she helps nurse a survivor of a shipwreck back to health, she finds her heart torn between vocation and love. Stunningly gorgeous language; wonderful, magical immersion in Irish mythology and lore, just an utterly beautiful book.

On the Line, by S J Rozan.

This is the latest in Rozan’s Bill Smith/Lydia Chin mysteries, and wow, what a read. I wouldn’t recommend starting with it if you’ve not read others in the series. But it’s a heart-pounding, thrill-a-minute ride for any fans of her mystery series. Be prepared to get nothing done and no sleep, it’s that hard to put down!

Bayou Moon, by Ilona Andrews.

Ilona Andrews is actually a pseudonym for a husband and wife writing team–which, how amazing is that?–and this is the second in a series of paranormal romance/urban fantasy type books. From the back: “The Edge lies between worlds, on the border between the Broken, where people shop at Wal-Mart and magic is a fairy tale–and the Weird, where blueblood aristocrats rule, changelings roam, and the strength of your magic can change your destiny . . .”

This is one of the most unique, fun, fantastic fantasy worlds I’ve ever encountered. Combined with great characters and a compelling romance, it’s a hugely fun read.

That’s all for now, but tune in soon for more–and for my girls’ favorite children’s books, too!

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

The Last Two Weeks in Bullets

December 7th, 2010

Eek, it’s been so long since last I blogged! Here are the last two weeks in a nutshell:

* 3 more colds. I’m not kidding. I wish I were kidding. But those little rubbery germ guys? Have unpacked their little suitcases and plan on staying awhile, apparently. We’ve had 3 more colds in the last weeks, the last of which turned into . .
*Croup for Vivi, poor sweetie. But I’m SO thankful that it was a very mild case. Still, she . . .
* Also cut 3 new molars. All in the same week! Really, she should file a complaint with the Teething Board, right?
*Plumbing leak in our basement.
*Broken refrigerator. Which is still not fixed. But luckily it’s cold enough outside that we can keep things in our garage. I really am thankful! Can’t imagine what we’d do if we were in the midst of a 100 degree spell in the summer. And . . .
*I sent the first 30 thousand words of my new book to my agent, and he loved it! Which somehow makes all of the above perfectly okay. I love being a writer.
*Also, I’ve used Willow, Aisling, Rafe, and Kieran as character names in my new book. Every one of them is a Mr. Husband-rejected baby name! I love being a writer so much that I don’t really need perks about the job. But it’s always nice when they pop up!

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Four!

November 21st, 2010

My baby girl is four this week! Well, technically she is my older girl, but since I am in denial that neither she nor her 15 month old little sister are really ‘babies’ anymore, I am officially declaring her forever my baby girl.

I asked her tonight if she remembered being born. (This picture was taken just minutes after). She gave me a look–four years old and she already has a look!–and was like, Uh, No.

Ha. So much for all those books I read with titles like ‘Children Remember Birth.’ But I remember. I remember bouncing on my yoga ball all through the night and then looking down at her, all red and wrinkly as I lay in bed SO glad to have labor over. Not that it wasn’t beautiful and great. We’d been planning to name a girl ‘Samantha’, but I took one look at her and knew from the first instant I laid eyes on her she was Isabella. My poor husband! That name hadn’t even been on our list of possibles, so he was a little surprised.

She was born SCREAMING. I’d also read all those books about how the first hours after birth are such a lovely bonding time. Bella screamed at the top of her lungs for 45 minutes with her eyes screwed up tight shut. Then she fell sound asleep. I remember lying in bed listening to her breathe on one side of me in the bed and Nathan breathe on the other side and thinking, Holy cow, what have I done?

(Here’s me with my midwives. This is when she’d finally fallen asleep.)

There haven’t been too many times in my life when I’ve heard God’s voice, but I heard it then. I remember lying there and I heard–I truly did–hear God laugh, and tell me, This is the baby you want.

And you know, God was right. She never cried like that ever again. Actually she would probably win the award for world’s easiest, most peaceful and happy baby. Not that I wouldn’t have loved her just as much if she’d had colic, but she was easy on us, for sure.

Four years later, I just watched her carefully make one bracelet from a kit someone gave her for herself, and then just as carefully and totally of her own accord make the other one (there were 2) for her baby sister. She’s still–always–the baby I want. Happy birthday, baby girl!

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

The Endless Cold

November 19th, 2010

When I was in middle school, toys called ‘germs’ were all the rage. They were these rubbery plastic depictions of, well, germs. Thanks to the miracle of google image search, I can share one with you:

As I recall, my mom refused to cave in to my pleas that she buy me some of these little guys. Something about a rubbery plastic germ that does nothing except sit there looking like a rubbery plastic germ not being worth $10? I’m sure no one looking at the above picture can understand her reluctance!

But the universe has now gotten its revenge for any resentment I may have felt, because if you were to look at my house with a microscope, it would look like a convention of these creatures. Probably everyone out there with toddlers is nodding sagely at this, but we seem to experience the endless cold phenomenon from like September to April. It’s kind of like that movie ‘Endless Summer’ except with more Kleenex and screaming babies. My girls aren’t even in preschool or daycare or anything–yet we’re barely over one cold before we’re down with the next. How? How do you make it stop?

So this is why I’ve been absent from blogging lately. But it’s not all bad news, it’s still autumn here, and the weather has been glorious. Bella decided to be a black cat for halloween (almost like she doesn’t trust me to pick for her after the whole lobster costume incident!). And today I’m over at Writer Unboxed blogging about some of the behind-the-scenes debates that go on when working with an editor. Stop by!

(Bella as a black cat, Vivi as a baby wearing pink pajamas–she was sick again that night, poor sweetie. And me as a yoga-pants wearing mommy. I definitely think my costume was the most realistic!)

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

In Defense of NaNoWriMo

November 10th, 2010

For those unfamiliar with the term, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. In the words of the founders: National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.

Now, let me first off say that I don’t do NaNoWriMo. The philosophy of it is to write 50,000 words without editing, without looking back or pausing to regroup and revise. The motto is ’30 days and nights of literary abandon’. And since I’m sort of more of the ‘control freak’ school of writing than the ‘literary abandon’ one, my personal brain would explode if I tried to write that way. But tens of thousands do participate in growing numbers every year–and love it–and find it fuels a love of writing that lasts all the rest of the year.

Yet this year, for the first time, I’m seeing SO many articles and blog posts and opinion pieces criticizing NaNoWriMo. Why? Is it just because it’s gotten bigger and more people are aware of it? Are we all in crummy moods because every time we turn around there’s another article about how the publishing industry is melting down and no one is buying books anymore? I don’t know. But even I–a non-NaNo-er–feel like I should come to it’s defense.

First off, I’ve seen the argument that writing a book this quickly without looking back is inevitably going to lead to a bad book. Which, honestly and for most people, is probably true. But writing is re-writing. No writer that I’ve ever met or heard of writes a sparklingly perfect first draft. My own first drafts are hideously, embarrassingly dreadful. Yes, if you’re seriously pursuing publication, a NaNoWriMo book is likely going to require huge revisions before it’s ready to start sending out to agents. But that’s true of any book, NaNo-ed or otherwise. And what if you’re not looking to get published? What if it’s just for fun?

That leads me to the criticism that I found much more disturbing: I just read an opinion piece saying that writing should not be a hobby that’s picked up one month of the year and then put down. What? Why not? I’m never going to make a career out of running or dancing or embroidering or cooking. But I’d be kind of annoyed if a professional athlete or prima ballerina or chef started telling me I couldn’t enjoy any of those things as a hobby. Writing is just like any other form of creative expression–shouldn’t there be room for people to pursue it in every degree of intensity and in every way? If you have stories twitching at the ends of your fingertips asking to be told, why should it matter whether your goal is to write full-time as a job or whether you pick it up one month of the year just for fun?

Writing is my dream job, and I’m so, so lucky to get paid to tell myself stories I’m passionate about. Even though I don’t participate, I love it that NaNoWriMo gives other people the incentive to tell their stories and experience the thrill of seeing their words on the page. Anything that gets this many people excited about writing and books and creates so much positive energy around the process can only be a good thing, I say.

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Happy Halloween!

October 29th, 2010

Okay, it’s not quite Halloween yet, but I wanted to share this picture of my older girl’s very first Halloween. Three years ago, now. Wow.

We actually got this costume for her when she was a tiny newborn. It was on the super marked down clearance rack (she was born in November) and Nathan took one look and knew he couldn’t live without the opportunity of dressing his daughter up like a lobster. As I’m sure you can understand. Clearly.

So here is the result, taken on her first Halloween when she was just shy of being a year old:

Ah, I love this picture. I love it SO much it should be illegal in five states. Note the lobster’s resigned glower and slightly curled upper lip. We call this Bella’s “Please tell me my real parents will be here to pick me up soon” look.

I also figure this is excellent leverage for when she’s a teenager: Home by 11 pm, or I will post the lobster picture on my blog again! Come to think of it, I should really dig out the lobster suit and make sure I get a picture of her little sister in it, too.

Happy Halloween, everyone!

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

On Faith, Morgan, and the Otherworld

October 24th, 2010

Finally I have a moment to write the post I intended last week, when I got distracted by autumn and maggots wriggling across my living room floor. (Thanks to my husband, the maggots are gone. But it’s still autumn! And I’m so glad, the weather is gorgeous here just now).

This post is partially covered by my answer to one of the discussion questions at the end of Dark Moon, but I wanted to cover it in a bit more detail here, too, because I’ve been hearing the question from readers and because it’s so near to my heart.

Essentially, I hear people wondering, What’s the deal with Morgan’s voice in the books? She narrates the prologues and has ‘coversations’ with Isolde. But is she real? Is she a ghost? A figment of Isolde’s imagination?

I don’t usually post about my own religious beliefs–I mean, I’m happy to talk if anyone asks or is curious, it just doesn’t usually come up–but since it’s kind of part of my answer to this question, I’ll explain that my own beliefs are those of the Baha’i Faith, which has at its heart the belief in the oneness of God, the oneness of the human family, and the oneness of religion. The sixth century, when Dark Moon of Avalon is set, was a time of religious change in Britain, a time when the old nature-centered pagan beliefs were being absorbed into the new Christian faith. One of my favorite parts of writing the books was exploring the intersection of those beliefs, the ways in which the Christian and the pagan belief systems could be seen to worship a single unified Divine, albeit in very different ways.

Morgan, for me, represents the old pagan faith and the Celtic belief system in which the Otherworld was no far distant heaven up in the sky, but a place separated from our own world by the thinnest of veils. A cave, a lake, a river, all could be portals to this Otherworld. I think Isolde herself stands very much at the crossroads of the old ways and the new, and part of her journey through Twilight of Avalon and Dark Moon is to find her own faith system, to understand both the Christian and Pagan beliefs and see the wisdom in each.

So whether Morgan is part of the Celtic Otherworld or an answer to a more Christianized version of prayer, my answer to the question of, Is she real? is: She is absolutely very real to Isolde.

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

« Previous Entries Next Entries »

Anna Elliott's blog is proudly powered by WordPress.
Entries (RSS) and Comments (RSS).