Today the Dragon Wins

"Today the Dragon Wins" offers information from Fantasy Author and Professional Editor Sandy Lender. You'll also find dragons, wizards, sorcerers, and other fantasy elements necessary for a fabulous story, if you know where to look...

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Location: Misbehaving in Candlelight

Sandy Lender is the editor of an international trade publication and the author of the fantasy novels Choices Meant for Gods and Choices Meant for Kings, available from ArcheBooks Publishing, and the series-supporting chapbook, What Choices We Made.

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Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Wednesday's Inspirational Quote of the Day
"Joy is but the sign that creative emotion is fulfilling its purpose."
— Charles Du Bos

Fantasy Author Sandy Lender wishes you a joyful and fulfilling day!
Keep reading for yesterday's controversial writing tip. Bwuahahahaha.
"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."
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Word of the Day
...is postponed for a day because I've got to run out to the doctor's office before work. But we'll do it again tomorrow. To participate in the contest, just pick one of the Word of the Day entries so far this month and create a sentence in the comment field. Most of 'em are easy breezy! Fun!

"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Tuesday's Inspirational Quote of the Day
"It would be a mistake to ascribe creative power to an inborn talent; a creative operation requires an effort. Creativity takes courage."
— Henri Matisse

Fantasy Author Sandy Lender wishes you a creative day!
Keep reading for more of today's posts including the controversial one on promoting when you should be writing.
"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."
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Writers Write
Or…The Dragon has a bone to pick with folks who spend their writing time on promotion

Let me start by saying this will be a controversial post. I apologize and welcome your discussion with one another now.

First, writers write. They must, as a function of today's publishing industry, also promote their work.

But the writer who sacrifices his or her writing time to sit on a panel at a convention or to package up pens and bookmarks to send to a convention where he or she can't participate in the flesh or to stand by a photocopy machine making advance reader copies (ARCs) of the latest manuscript for reviewers ceases to be a writer and steps into the role of a publicist. I have performed each of the above-mentioned tasks and more in the promotion of Choices Meant for Gods, Choices Meant for Kings, and What Choices We Made because I can't afford to hire a publicist, but I have not performed these tasks to the detriment of my writing schedule. I would lose my mind if I didn't have my writing time.

Recently, someone in an online promotional group that I belong to wrote a message chastising the members of the group for not participating more in the free opportunities the group affords. We were being called on the carpet for not taking time to post oodles of links and information about our work. I didn't have time to respond to the message, and was irritated that the message with the scintillating subject line had turned out to be a waste of my reading time. So I decided to use it during my blogging time to educate others.

If you've set aside time for writing because you're a writer, guard it with your life. Don't let promotional activities take away your opportunity to create. If an interview is scheduled during the hour or two hours that you've scheduled for writing, then re-schedule those writing hours for a different time; don't let them slip away. If you have to travel to speak on a panel, write on the plane. Write in the hotel room. You can ask for that wake-up call to be as early as you need it to be…

What I'm trying to get at is this: time is precious. Your writing time is precious. Once you let it get away, you don't get it back. It's more important than responding to a group message or to a blog post. It's more important than opening your e-mail to check "one thing" that sucks you in for an hour. It's more important than the laundry that could be drying while you finally catch up on sleep later.

I'm not going to tell you that scheduling and re-scheduling your writing time is easy. Some writers out there are balancing writing with raising a family with promotion with getting a dog to the vet, etc. There's always something. I have a fulltime job that requires more than 40 hours a week, an illness that requires frequent doctor visits and tests, some of which last more than three hours at a pop, and a couple legal matters that require visits to attorneys (with homework). That means I have to stay organized to keep the writing and promotion up. It is possible.

And it's what makes me a writer.

Which are you?

"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."
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Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Word of the Day
Eudaemonia (noun) - happiness resulting from a rational, active life (etymology: from Greek "eu" meaning "good" and "daimon" meaning "spirit")

Word in a Sentence: In the novel Choices Meant for Gods, Chariss experiences a eudaemonia because she lives a life of content and joy with her good mentor Hrazon, despite the evil sorcerer chasing them around.

Your turn! Whoa, should have written a sentence yesterday, huh? The contest is open all month, so pick one of these words of the day to expand your vocabulary with all the other visitors to enter to win the electronic version of Choices Meant for Gods. Stretch for it today! The comment link awaits your creativity...

"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."
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Monday, September 22, 2008

Monday's Inspirational Quote of the Day
"Each time dawn appears, the mystery is there in its entirety."
— Poet Rene Daumal

Fantasy Author Sandy Lender wishes you a day full of enough mystery to ignite a creative writing streak in you!
Keep reading for today's Word of the Day and your chance to enter the latest eBook contest.
"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."
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Monday, September 22, 2008
Word of the Day
Albeit (conjunction) — even though; although; notwithstanding (etymology: from Middle English "al be it" meaning "let it be entirely known")

Word in a Sentence: In the fantasy novel Choices Meant for Gods, Chariss tends to use her sharp, albeit sometimes saucy, wit to catch her charge and god, Master Rothahn off guard. (This sends her guardian Hrazon into conniptions on a regular basis.)

Your turn! I'm sorry I neglected to give you all chances to enter the eBook contest over the weekend. I was busy writing. So we're back on task with Word of the Day this week. Just share a creative sentence with today's word and you're in! At the end of the contest, the winner gets a fabulous eBook version of Choices Meant for Gods. Or you can just go get the hard copy somewhere like a book store. But this is winning. And winning is cool.

"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."
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Thursday, September 18, 2008

Thursday's Inspirational Quote of the Day
"Those who wish to sing always find a song."
— Swedish Proverb

Fantasy Author Sandy Lender wishes you a musical day!
Keep reading for more of today's posts including an article on how to buy a sword.
"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."
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How to Buy a Sword
Or...The Dragon offers some pointy advice

Let's say your interest in sword-buying is literary in nature. Your WIP includes a character who needs to get a good, dependable weapon and there aren't any lakes nearby where watery tarts can spring up and fling one at him. (My deepest apologies to Arthurian fans who haven't seen The Quest for the Holy Grail.) Unless you understand exactly how a blacksmith forges steel into a blade, get thy character to a blacksmith to purchase his sword of choice. Or have some elves forge and deliver it in grand fashion before a significant battle.

But let's say your interest in swords is here in the real world. If you like the look of swords and enjoy intimidating your houseguests (especially those of the uninvited variety), you can pick one up in this day and age. How authentic you want to be dictates the amount of money you'll spend.

For the swords I give away at my book signings and other appearances, I don't go all out and pay for tempered swords that re-enactors would use in battle scenes, etc. I am on a budget here. If you want a real sword worthy of use in jousting and impressing the folks "in the know", you'll spend $200 or $300 at an artisan's shop. And it may or may not be sharp when you walk out with it. Oftentimes that's extra.

The best place to get such a sword, in my humble opinion, is the aforementioned artisan's shop. I find those at renaissance festivals. They're speckled all over the United States all over the calendar. A quick google search for Renaissance Faire and the name of your state will provide you with a list. Even the retirement village of Florida has a ton of them. Once you find a festival near you, look up the vendors attending. Check them out. A wholesaler of blades purchased out of various catalogs is not what you're after. You want someone who stands in his or her booth with fire and hammer pounding out a blade in front of you while he or she explains the craft. That, my friends, is the artisan you're looking for. He or she knows how to create a sword and will either have some on the wall for purchase and/or can craft one for you (for a price). I've even heard of vendors who work with you to let you pound on the steel to create your own blade, assisting you to make sure you do it right, of course. This will take up your day, but will provide a very real experience that will enhance your writing more than you know.

So if you're in the market for a sword, go ahead and peruse the catalogs and online shops, but beware of claims you read there. When you're sitting at the computer a couple hundred miles from the warehouse, you can't lean on the sword to feel the give of the blade (indicating whether or not it's been tempered). You can't look down the blade for imperfections and warping. My advice, as a chick who cares, is to research your purchase and go to an artisan at a festival. You'll get an authentic piece far more intimidating to those uninvited houseguests than the "Shards of Narsil" out of a glossy catalog.

"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."
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Thursday, September 18, 2008
Word of the Day
Invidious (adjective) — objectionable in nature; envious; offensive; causing ill will; discriminatory; causing animosity (from Latin meaning "envious" or "hostile")

Word in a Sentence: In the fantasy novel Choices Meant for Gods, the ancient goddess, Julette, is an invidious creature who wishes to force the followers of The Master to worship her as their supreme being.

Your turn! I feel pretty sure we've used this word before, but it's just such a powerful one that I don't mind repeating. Click on the comments link below this post to share a creative sentence of your own that incorporates today's word and you'll be instantly entered in the contest to win an eBook version of Choices Meant for Gods. It's one of the easiest contests in the known universe, my friends! (and it lets you catch up on the series before the short story anthology What Choices We Made and sequel Choices Meant for Kings hit the shelves)

"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."
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Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Wednesday's Inspirational Quote of the Day
"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep."
— Scott Adams

Fantasy Author Sandy Lender wishes you creative, artful day!
Keep reading for more of today's posts, including a top 10 list of fabulous dragon pet qualities!
"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."
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Top 10 Reasons Dragons Make Good Pets

Or...I wish I had a dragon around

10. Dragons are the original "green" pet. With rising residential heating oil and propane costs, his handy built-in pilot light reduces your energy/utility bills.

9. Their natural propensity for gathering and hording bright, shiny objects means more valuable bling for your family treasury.

8. You can safely take up a life of crime. Name one judge who's going to risk his neck signing a search warrant on your dragon-infested property. (or one deputy willing to serve said search warrant)

7. No stray cats spawning loudly outside your window at night.

6. No stray jocks attempting #7.

5. If your dragon flies (and most do), you have a fabulous solution to rush-hour traffic. Well, let's face it, even if your dragon is flightless, traffic will move for you.

4. If you ride your dragon to work (and who wouldn't), you'll probably be able to garner a raise through strategic intimidation. "My pet can eat you," is a great negotiating tool. (works for raising grades in school as well)

3. With a dragon, family game night can include IQ-building riddle contests.

2. Because some people CAN make it across the moat.

1. The dragon makes your moat look like a normal landscaping feature.

You're welcome to copy this list, just remember to cite your source: Fantasy Author Sandy Lender at Today the Dragon Wins. Enjoy!

"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."

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Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Word of the Day
Incur
(verb) — to bring upon oneself; to become subject to something as a result of your own actions (etymology: from Latin "incurrere" meaning "to run into")

Word in a Sentence: In the fantasy novel Choices Meant for Gods from Sandy Lender, The Master Rothahn incurs the wrath of the wizard Hrazon when He abuses Hrazon's ward with insane training methods one morning.

Your turn! What creative use of today's word can you bring upon the rest of us? Share your creativity in the comment field (click on the comment link just below this post) and you automatically enter a contest to win the electronic version of Choices Meant for Gods. Yes, it's a contest that runs through the end of this month! Share, expand your vocabulary, and enter a nice little contest. It's just give give give here at Today the Dragon Wins. ;)

"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."
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Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Tuesday's Inspirational Quote of the Day
"Faith is one of the forces by which men live; the total absence of it means collapse."
— William James

Fantasy Author Sandy Lender wishes you a faith-filled day.
Keep reading for more of today's posts including the winner of Jorin Taiman's sword from DragonCon.
"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."
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Congratulations to Harold Sander

Or...The Dragon wonders if he's slain any intruders yet

At the recent DragonCon, Harold Sander entered and won the free drawing for the replica of Jorin Taiman's sword. Join me in congratulating him on the fabulous win. (Jorin Taiman is Nigel's younger brother in the Choices trilogy.)

This was Harold's first DragonCon and he went away with great art and a great win! He was even so kind as to pose for a picture for the blog, without ever asking if my hair was real or not. Bwuahahaha. (Truth be told, no one seemed to notice it was fake! So I'll be using that little mop for the duration of my treatments! Woo-hoo!)

If you'd like to win one of these fabulous swords, you have to attend an event where I'm signing. The next one of those is in November, in sunny Naples, Florida. The Barnes & Noble at the Waterside Shops is hosting a local authors event Saturday, Nov. 15. My time slot is from 10 a.m. to noon. I hope to see you there! I know I'll have my first novel, Choices Meant for Gods, and my short story anthology, What Choices We Made, available for purchase and personalization. And if you'd like to see the second novel, Choices Meant for Kings, make its debut at this event, please help me lobby my publisher to wave the magic wand of production over the production schedule...

No matter how that goes, I'm pleased that folks like Harold stop by my table at these events and share a bit of their time talking about books (and cutlery). Congrats again to the latest winner!

"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."

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Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Word of the Day
Callow
(adjective) — immature; inexperienced; unfledged; not possessing adult sophistication (etymology: from Middle English "calwe" and Old English "calu" meaning "bald")

Word in a Sentence: In the fantasy novel Choices Meant for Kings from Sandy Lender, the callow Abigail Farrier assumes her appearance at Arcana will cause the Taiman family to bow to her wishes.

Your turn! Do you have any sentences of shallow subject to share with others? Click on the comment link just below this post to participate in today's Word of the Day — I've got a fabulous prize that awaits at the end of the month!

"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."
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Monday, September 15, 2008

Monday's Inspirational Quote of the Day
"To me, the greatest pleasure of writing is not what it's about, but the inner music that words make."
— Truman Capote

Fantasy Author Sandy Lender wishes you a great day to be as creative and musical as you can be!
Keep reading for more of today's posts. I have the recap of DragonCon (sword winner tomorrow) and the return of Word of the Day!!! Yay!!!
"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."
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Fantasy Author Sandy Lender Recaps DragonCon 2008

Or...you should have seen the fabulous t-shirts...


I apologize that it's taken me two weeks to get to the "recap" of my little version of DragonCon, but I have a good excuse. After getting home late Tuesday night, I had a chemo treatment Wednesday morning that really knocked me out. Then there were some legal issues to deal with while keeping up the day job...busy busy busy. As luck would have it, I kept track of the camera, though, and can bring you a few of the coo-el
pictures I took. For instance, check out the monster from outer space from Sesame Street! Yyyep yep yep yepyepyepyepyep!

I took the pictures you see here at the masquerade contest Sunday night where the Sesame Street monster took "audience favorite". As well he should have because the audience went nuts when he came out to do his little skit. I was pleased. I don't remember what the other creatures, like the Adult Swim Chicken, won, but they had intricate and fabulous costumes that appeared to take great amounts of time and attention to detail, so I snapped their picture. (I also don't remember scantily clad superheroes clinging to the monster from outer space in the TV show, but we've got a couple in my photos here...)

Saturday night, my sister and I went to a Firefly shindig where we met up with a couple of friends to share the evening. You wouldn't think some small plastic dinosaur toys and oversized plastic jacks on a table would entertain adults as much as they did...What did these party planners know about us that we didn't? None of the cast members were brave enough to attend the shindig (probably wise), but my sister and I got to meet Nathan Fillion (captain Mal) and Alan Trudyk (pilot Wash) earlier that afternoon and got autographs. That was most cool. My sister also got Sean Astin's autograph while I merely shook his hand and told him how thrilled I was to see him at DragonCon this year. All three of them were fantastic celebrities to meet. They were wonderful gentlemen who seemed pleased as punch to be meeting their fans and hanging out with everyone. Very personable and friendly. When I'm famous, I hope I'm that outgoing and charming. :)

Anyway, I've mentioned my sister. She's a huge fan of all things SciFi the way I am so when I asked family members if anyone was interested in coming to DragonCon to help me survive the effort, she pounced on the opportunity. She's a seamstress as well as a fan so she made the costumes we wore for the parade on Saturday. Oh, yes, I put her to work handing out candy with me during the parade. I had wrapped it in a flyer promoting Choices Meant for Gods because I wasn't going to risk passing out from overexertion for nothing. Bwuahahahaha. The good news is all went well and we had a grand time. Most of the con was spent trapped behind my table so I could sell my book and hand out flyers and bookmarks.
That gave us the perfect opportunity to read everyone's t-shirts. One of the remarkable things about a group of SciFi/Fantasy fans is the IQ level. These people read and watch intelligence-building culture. Face it, you have to be smart to follow the plotlines of most SciFi literature and television programs. Thus you have a heightened sense of humor. And at a convention such as DragonCon, you have 30,000 people from a subset of America who understand each other's jokes walking around four hotels in the heart of Atlanta. If someone walks by with a button that says, "Also, I can kill you with my brain," you know that person is a Firefly fan who appreciates River's abilities. (You also laugh because that was a funny moment in the show.) I saw a t-shirt with a mad scientist hugging a nuclear reactor. I saw t-shirts with paradies of superheroes, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Star Trek, etc. I saw t-shirts with quotes out of Dr. Who, Stargate, the Bible, etc. My favorite was Yoda with the quote, "My finger, pull."
Overall, DragonCon was a great opportunity to promote Choices Meant for Gods and the upcoming Choices Meant for Kings, but it was a great opportunity to have a SciFi/Fantasy vacation, too. It's wonderful to escape from reality once in a while. As a writer, I get to do it daily during my writing time. As a fantasy fanatic, I get to do it at these conventions as often as I'm allowed.
"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."

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Monday, September 15, 2008
Word of the Day
Quixotic
(adjective) — being romantic with no regard for practicality; having rash, lofty, romantic, chivalrous ideals to the extreme; being enamored or obsessed with the romance of doing noble deeds (etymology: from Don Quixote)

Word in a Sentence: In the Choices fantasy trilogy from Sandy Lender, Lord Jamieson Drake wasn't so concerned about noble deeds, but was quixotic in his other actions when he returned from sea to marry the love of his life, Vertigo, in the city of Kharole some sixteen years before the Choices Meant for Gods story begins.

Your turn! It's been a while (months, in fact) since we've done Word of the Day, so newcomers to Today the Dragon Wins need to hear this is the part where you participate! Click on the "comments" link just below this post and use today's Word of the Day in a creative sentence of your own. This lets you flex the creative muscles if you're a writer, and expands vocabulary for everyone! Win win win, all the way around. ;)

"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."
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Sunday, September 14, 2008

Checkin' In For A Moment With Another Review
Or...Choices Meant for Kings gets an early review at ChrisChat Reviews

I swear I'm going to post the winner of the sword I gave away at DragonCon and some pictures...and I'm going to post Word of the Day and Inspirational Quote of the Day again...just send energizing thoughts my way and the blogging will follow.

:)

In the meantime, please check out this fabulous and fun review of my next fantasy novel, Choices Meant for Kings, from Chris Speakman at ChrisChat Reviews. It's not just a great review, it's written in a completely new format for reviewing... I think you guys will be as tickled by it as I was. Of course, I was thrilled mostly because she spoke so highly of my lovely Amanda Chariss, and you know I just love Chariss. ;)
Enjoy!

"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."
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