Tara Maya's Tales

It's Crit Marathon time at the OWW. I'm not officially participating, but I did put up some reviews, and I did post some new material, which keeps me on my toes returning crits.

Originally, I called my book The Rainbow Dancer. Those of you from the OWW might recognize it under that name. Now I've tentatively retittled it The Faery's Maze. Some other options: The Windwheel and the Maize The Faery's Curse Faery Dance Rainbow Dance I still haven't found a truly catchy title, one that, by itself, compels you to take the book off the shelf and look at it. I know that in the end, the title is up to the publisher.

Chapter 1 First Row, First Column A stately veil of birch hid Dindi from those she stalked. The trees encircled a wide clearing of stamped down reddish earth where the Tavaedis, the Chroma Dancers, practiced their Patterns. They began every day in the misty rose twilight before sunrise and ended when the noonday sunshine poured down molten gold. Dindi roused herself earlier still, to hide in the woods before they arrived, and she dared not leave until after they were gone. She went there to watch them, to envy them, and, in shameful secrecy behind the trees, to imitate them. Her mimicry was clumsy beside their grace, she knew, but she could not help herself. Though she did not have the Chroma magic and never would have it, she loved to dance. The Tavaedis performed at births, weddings, fairs, exorcisms, charmings -- in fact at any event of importance in the clanholds of the Corn Hills. These occasions kept them busy most afternoons. There were dance patterns effective for healing, for ...

Naturally, I have a novel I am trying to sell. Now the first draft is complete, so I’ll start posting a few excerpts in this blog. I've begun the merry-go-round attempt to interest a publisher so I can I can entice an agent to represent me, or interest an agent in representing me so I can entice a publisher to buy the book. So far I have sent it to seventeen agents. I've had three requests for partials and one request for a full manuscript. I've received the usual formal reject letters, as well as one or two warm and encouraging reject letters. [BABYWATCH: He's behind me on a pillow, chewing one of his books, babbling. I was worried about him for while because he seemed behind in his babbling. He seemed to only use vowels. However, he now babbles consonant sounds as well, and makes "phrases" that sound like conversation. ] I also have a crit group, mostly folks from OWW, for novel exchange critiques. I have five or six novels I am reading for them, and they wi...

While Tyranosauros Rex sleeps, I am taking the time to try to write. I'm finding it hard to concentrate on my WIP (work in progress). My rule for myself is that I have to write something every day, no matter how crappy it is or on what story. So I am working right now on a short sf story set in an sf universe I call the "Xenophile" universe after my main storyline there. This particular story is about parents who are trying to raise an alien baby. Hm. Is that scaple a little too close to the artery? Hee hee. It's really terrible, I've wanted to do a Mother Gives Birth To Alien story ever since I was pregnant. The premise of tv series like "Smallville" and "Roswell" is that every teenager feels like an alien just trying to fit in at one point. This is the same thing, but from the parents' point of view. Maybe it's just me, or maybe all parents at one time feel like their offspring are the first wave of an alien invasion. Trying to unders...

My little boy crawled for the first time on January 7, 2007. Yes, I wrote it in my calender. :) He was only four months, three weeks old at the time. Now, five months and counting, he's crawling all over the place. Well, specifically, he's crawling under my office chair, squeaking to be picked up. His idea of a good day is one spent entirely in my lap, alternated only with periods of time spent in his daddy's lap. Since we both work at home, he sees no logical reason this can't happen. What are parents for? My mom says I'm spoiling him. (Ha! She should talk. She raised two of the most spoiled kids ever!) But I'm not spoiling him! I am more than ruthless enough to let him cry himself silly on his playmat until he figures out that he can entertain himself with his toys for at least one fifteen minute period during the day. But we have no playpen for him yet and no matter how often I return him to his playmat and the company of his toys, HE JUST CRAWLS BACK UNDER M...

Obviously, I haven't been blogging much recently, so what have I been up to? Mmm. Well. As all you millions of die-hard Tara Maya fans know, my stories Drawn to the Brink and Portrait of a Pretender are set in a world where magic can bring paintings to life. So it's probably not surprising that I also paint. You can even visit my eBay store, Lau Studios. I write under a pen name, but I paint under my real name, Christine Lau. Recently I started a new series of paintings of urban fairies, called Mimsykins. I will start putting them up for auction in February. You can also see some of my paintings in the Saatchi Gallery. * * *

My short story, "Portrait of a Pretender" is now available from Amazon Shorts. Portrait of a Pretender Right now it is on page 11, rank 124 of 2,892 results. Please buy a copy and help move it up! It's only 49 cents. A while ago, I started another story in the Brink universe, but I never finished it. I didn't expect this story to be available so soon. I supposed I had better start cracking on the sequel! Remember, the other story set in the same universe is still available too, in WomanScapes The Amazon Short Portrait of a Pretender is less than two quarters, and WomanScapes , while a bit more at $16, goes to help starving orphans. * * *