Harvest Moon by Krista D Ball is out in October, 2010 and available from Muse It Up Publishing. The cover design by DK Renders is, for me, as magical as the story.
My love of native American culture started as a child reading about Hiawatha, Pocahontas and John Smith, and continued through Tony Hillerman's wonderful detective series.
Jim Thunder, who inspired Krista to write this, was himself renowned for his story telling. He made headlines twenty-one years ago when, as the result of a dream, he ran 4400 kilometres through ice and snow to New York in a bid to retrieve the Cree tribe's sacred bundle.
Krista's novella is based on traditions of the Canadian First Nations.
It's not yet time for the Harvest Moon but I have been doing a bit of spring harvesting of my own.
At this time of year, my garden is frantically growing nettles so I decided to try my hand at making nettle tea and graduated into experimenting with nettle soup.
I like to think that in this way I am, like the original members of the Canadian First Nations, returning to the land the respect which it is due.
On her blog, learn more about Jim Thunder and read Krista's moving tribute to the man to whom this book is dedicated.
Language learners need to listen before they can talk well. Writers need to read. My new job as content editor for Muse It Up Publishing--and I can hardly believe my luck in being chosen for it -- means not only can I read for days on end, I can even call it work :-)
As a subeditor on various British newspapers, I am an experienced copy editor, checking for punctuation, spelling and grammar mistakes. It's a bit like teaching -- if I see too many repetitive mistakes, I start to doubt my own accuracy. And if you're thinking of editing, remember that nowadays we have to move confidently between US English, Canadian English and the standard UK spelling and grammar.
For more information on the various forms of editing, try Hadley Raydeen's excellent article on the editing jobs in publishing,
A content editor wields a broader brush.
My Christmas present to me was Holly Lisle's latest course : How to Revise Your Novel.
Learn how to revise your novel.
Get the novel you WANT
From the novel you HAVE.
Find out more
It was too tempting to resist.
If I could get even half way towards the novel I wanted from the novel I had, I would be delighted. The book I want to save, working title Dangerous Decisions, has been languishing in limbo for two years.
I decided to make a dangerous decision of my own to see if I could salvage something from the hours and hours invested in this and previous flawed nanowrimo novels and because Holly promised no pressure. She also seemed to know and understand how mind-numbingly dreadful revision is for someone like me.
Another reason I chose this course is that I can take it at my own pace -- I won't be dropping out because I can't keep up.
I hate revision with a passion --I tie myself and my story into Gordian knots you'd need a steel scimitar to slice through and end up with the whole thing in scrappy little knotted strings of plot that can never be woven together again.
I spent a few weeks worrying about whether I had the nerve to start on week one while my fellow students were racing through their worksheets and baying for more.
But so far --and remember I am still on week one working through a chapter a day --the Holly Lisle system is a revelation.
My first drafts -- and I have five languishing -- are all chaotic. I repeat myself, I have plot holes a jumbo jet could disappear into, and at some point -- usually around chapter ten -- I lose the plot completely. All efforts at revision in the past have left me hating the book and burying it under the desk.
Now I can homestly say I rather like this book again, I can see order emerging from the chaos, some people I enjoy and some that need a bit more backbone. All may not be wasted.
Thanks to Holly Lisle and the enthusiastic companionship of my fellow students.
