Since Peanut's death earlier this week, I've been very blue about the fact that the big cage has been sitting empty and forlorn. My morning ritual usually starts with checking up on our hamsters and making coffee. It depressed me every time I said, “Hello, ham-chans!” and then realized that there was nobody to squeak back at me. Then throughout the day I look at the cage to see how Peanut's doing, and when he's not there, it makes me feel like I want to cry. In a way it's harder…when the others passed away, I always had another hamster or two to cheer me up and keep me company. Having no hamster at all now feels unimaginable.

So Hero Material and I cleaned out the big cage and redid the set up. Then we went to a local pet store to get some new hamsters. We thought about getting a pearl white and a plain black one, but it didn't work out because the latter looked a little sick and kept biting everyone. *sigh*

So we decided to get blue sapphires instead, but they had three boys in one cage, and we couldn't buy just two like we're thinking about and leave one behind. That'd be cruel, and we couldn't decide which two to take since they were all extremely cute and even-tempered.

So now we are three. Say hello to our little friends: Bigger, Digger and Nester.

Bigger is the biggest out of the group actually. He's very sweet and likes to munch on timothy hay.

Digger is the smallest, and he likes to dig around in the food bowl…

Nester is the mid-size one, and he likes to make nests. He reminds me a little bit of Shiro because she used to make gorgeous nests too.

May they live long and prosper.

I've been away for several days due to work and a bit of crisis / illness, etc.

On Wednesday, I cleaned out Peanut's cage. Well, as it happened I set the water bottle incorrectly or something because he wasn't able to drink any, and we didn't notice…for over fourteen hours. The poor thing was so dehydrated and in great pain, barely moving the next morning. Fortunately Hero Material found Peanut and started giving him liquid-rich food. Our little hamster's doing much better now, and let me just say that they don't call Hero “Hero” for nothing.

On the writing front — I'm now done with the fifth step in the revision process for All's Fair!

chapters: 21 / 21 (100%)

And I sent out the revised draft to my 1st beta, so now I'm done with six out of nine steps.

steps: 6 / 9 (67%)

I just finished Jeannie Lin's Harlequin Historical Undone The Taming of Mei Lin. Despite its length, it was excellent. I recommend it highly.

Hello everyone!

Thank you, Nadia, for allowing me a spot on your blog. I've never been a guest blogger anywhere before, so hopefully I entertain rather than bore you all.

I decided to blog about a question I get asked frequently — where do you come up with your ideas? There are a million answers to that question, and each depends on the writer answering it. Instead, let's look at the next step — research.

I love to research. I'm a nerd. I can admit that. Research is fun. I love libraries and looking through volumes no one has cracked open in years. It makes me feel like I've discovered something amazing, even if it is only from 1970.

Where do I find this stuff? Well, we've established that I'm a nerd. Therefore, I will happily spend hours watching History Channel, Discovery, and Travel Channel. (We won't even get into my Food Network addiction). I also spent more hours than I care to count at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NY as part of a requirement for my bachelor's degree, once upon a time. GMU believed that riding a bus to NY for a day once a semester would somehow magically give all us art students more artistic ability. I don't see it, but it was a cheap way to get to fun museums. I picked up many things there — here's a fun tidbit for you: If you can, try to look at the back side of all those Greek and Roman cups and urns. A lot of the time, if they're turned to the wall, its because there's a dirty scene on the other side.

Important things you learn in college, right?

And that brings me to the other reason. I was an art/graphics major. I love art history, and there is so much art based on mythology and legend that it's hard not to be exposed to those things. Eventually you remember some of it. I also minored in medieval/renaissance literature. We read some awesome works that I would never have been exposed to otherwise. I adored Havelock the Dane and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight! If you haven't read them, do it!

Urban legends are always a great place to start. Pick one, any one. Doesn't matter which it is, I can almost guarantee that if you look it up you will discover other areas of the country/world with similar stories, and you may even find that it is based in a true story, or a local mythology that is even more intriguing than what you started with.

For this book, I did some research into werewolves, obviously. Some of the mythology is my own. I never liked that silver stopped them. Probably because I'm partial to silver jewelry, and I always want my characters to wear it. But when you go back, silver has a really interesting history all its own. I wanted to make mine into something that both explained why it would be a deterrent and still give it a different and positive spin. In mine, it's like…werewolf steroids. In the wrong hands it's not a good idea, but with the right use, a terrific performance enhancer.

I also have a fondness for Celtic mythology and I wanted to incorporate it here. The Wild Hunt has always intrigued me, and while it only gets mentioned once in this story, it was the inspiration for Cern's character. There's more to, but I don't want to bore you.

One last thought for you — I have always found that if you keep a notebook, journal, pack of cocktail napkins, etc. with you at all times, while your friends may tease you for it, you'll be better off. I carry a million pens and my “idea journal” around all the time. I write things I overhear, I glue articles and photos, I paint in it, I draw in it, write lists and notes, and even write my favorite quotes down. I've never been able to keep up with writing a daily journal, but you'll be surprised how easy this habit is to create, and the fantastic things it inspires.

Thank you so much, Nadia, for allowing me to ramble on your blog, and I hope you've all enjoyed the visit!

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Ellen Keener lives in rural Virginia along the Chesapeake Bay, enjoys long walks on the beach discussing classic literature, and big drinks with little umbrellas. If you'd like to follow her thoughts on life, the universe and everything, you can do so at her blog.

Sunrise Over Texas is my first historical novel, inspired by a lesson I taught my fourth graders about Jane Long, “The Mother of Texas,” who was left alone at a fort on Bolivar Peninsula, near Galveston, with only a servant and child. I had taught this lesson at least twice before, but never was I struck by what a brave thing this was. I wanted to write a story with a heroine like that, and give her a happy ending (Jane Long was widowed and never remarried.)

Some things I learned:

1. Researching Texas in the 1820s is hard. It was very wild then, and not a lot of records were kept. I found an online resource, The Texas Handbook Online that was invaluable to me — even told me when the first boarding houses and hotels were built.
2. I learned the Bolivar Peninsula is LONG. One day during spring break, my step-dad, mom and brother took me to San Felipe, the state's original settlement where Stephen Austin brought the original 300 families, then we continued down to Galveston, where the fort still stands. This was 8 months after Hurricane Ike, and the damage was still pretty severe. We took the ferry to Bolivar, where people were returning from working salvage. The line to get back on the ferry was LONG, so we drove down the peninsula, halfway between Louisiana and Houston. There is NOTHING out there, y'all. We were starving by the time we got to Houston.
3. My step-dad has amazing patience. I should have known this, since he taught me to drive, but facing the traffic going to Galveston, then waiting for the ferry, then driving endlessly down Bolivar…yeah, he's patient.
4. The fort looked nothing like I expected, and it was RIGHT on the beach. I modified this in my book, since I wanted my characters to suffer a bit more.
5. The Native Americans who lived in the area, the Karankawa, were tall, tattooed and rumored to be cannibalistic. VERY little is known of this tribe, who'd I'd taught my students were hunters and gathers.
6. I learned I can write 50,000 words in a month for NaNoWriMo, but not be done with the book. In fact, I didn't finish this book until April (NaNoWriMo is in November.) I had some other obligations along the way, but found myself going back to research certain points along the way.
7. I learned to go with my gut. I complicated matters for my characters, and had to write three different ways for them to get past it, which is also why it took me 6 months to write it :)
8. I learned I really enjoy writing western-set historicals. I have three more ideas outlined—if only I had more time!

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MJ, a four-time Golden Heart finalist, travels wherever her imagination takes her, from Honduras to Africa to the past. Find MJ online:

Website: www.mjfredrick.com
Blog: www.mjfredrick.wordpress.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/MJFredrick
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/MJ-Fredrick-Fan-Page/224464194236?ref=nf

In this rather discouraging outcome, it looks like you don't own the digital products you buy from iTunes. You “license” them.

…a three judge panel of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held that iTunes downloads (even the DRM-free variety) are encumbered by enough restrictions that they can't be considered sales at all.

There will be appeals, but if the number of restrictions can make something “licensed” versus “owned”, technically this ruling can apply to any digital product you buy from anywhere else, not just iTunes.

I'm not sure how I feel about “licensing” books or mp3s and so on. If they're merely licensed, I'd like to see digital product prices drop. I'm not spending $7.99 or more on a book I don't even get to own.