Travel picture of the day.

Amsterdam has some of the world's most intriguing architecture. Most of what we saw dated from the 17th Century, during the Netherland's time as the world's major trading power.  Designed to act as both homes and warehouses for goods, the narrow but tall buildings sport hoisting beams to pulley heavy bundles into the attics.  Then the merchants could bring their wares downstairs to show to purchasers.

To maximize space, they used a lot of spiraling staircases.

Very narrow, very steep spiral staircases.

For example, the staircase in the Hotel Brouwer, where The Charming Man and I stayed (by the way, this hotel was *lovely* and we highly recommend it).

I do believe these staircases are why the Dutch are such ridiculously good looking people.

The gift of travel.

How does one go about telling others how life changing and awe-inspiring a trip to another continent is?

Do I give you a day to day tour diary, complete with entries such as, "Days One - Three: Amsterdam. Amsterdam is truly the Portland of Europe. Or perhaps Portland is the Amsterdam of the United States."?

And of course, go on from there with quirky, amazing pictures of this brilliant, moist, complicated city with its surprisingly logical yet beautiful architecture and the weight of Rembrant's and Van Gogh's legacies pressing against your skin?

(Total Liz Gilbert moment there, huh? *preens*)

Or do I share my deep emotional insights that the entirely different surroundings gave me? (the short answer - I'm not nearly as much of a screw up as I've always thought :)

In the end, the best I can do is find some wonderful pictures and talk a little about each one.

Indeed, Portland is the Amsterdam of the United States.

Where's Waldo?

Or more accurately, where's Linda?

Well, I'm finally back in the Pacific Northwest after experiencing two and a half weeks in Europe with my beloved Charming Man!

Throughout the next few days, I'll be posting pictures and descriptions of this fantastic trip. :)

Ah, fresh air.

Amazing what a very brisk walk combined with a goodly amount of sit-ups will do for a writer. I just got a wonderful idea for some necessary back story for Book Two. Yay!

My favorite titles.

I wanted to talk about my favorite books on writing. Every author has her go-to's for inspiration and help, and here are mine.

How can one live without Joanna Russ's How to Suppress Women's Writing?

People love to denigrate our genre. This book gives an insightful and quirky look at how much and how little attitudes towards women's words have changed. It taught me just what kinds of horrible internalized sexism colored what I wrote, how I viewed other women, and worst of all, what I did to myself.



Making a Literary Life by Elizabeth See.
A far greater writer than I'll ever be says this:

If everyone who wants to be a writer would read this book there would be many more good writers, many more happy writers, and editors would be so overwhelmed by sweetness they would accept many more good books. So what are you waiting for? Read it! Ursula K. Le Guin

Write Away by Elizabeth George.
From Publisher's Weekly:

Here's a useful book for the novice writer battling the fears and insecurities that attend when she contemplates her first novel....George illustrates her points with passages from both her ownworks and those of numerous writers she admires (Martin Cruz Smith,Barbara Kingsolver, Louise Erdrich, Michael Dorris), this remains more of a how-I-do-it book than a how-to-do-it book. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Unlike PW, I'll say that this book is good even for experienced writers. I love her examples - they illustrate her points brilliantly.


I feel that the most important book on my shelf remains Against Our Will by Susan Brownmiller. I'm not going to kid you - this is a painful and devastating book, whether you have been a victim of sexual assault or not. But it endlessly reminds me of what I feel is the great gift that romance gives every reader: That her pleasure is central to life, that her consent should never dismissed or belittled, and that each of us deserves to be heard.

A different kind of Give-away.

I'm donating two of my one-of-a-kind, hand-painted fans for the Rose City Romance Writers raffle basket donation to the Emerald City Romance Writers Conference.

The ECRWC is October 1-3 this year. It is one of the best writing conferences on the West Coast and every year, they hold a fund-raising raffle of gorgeous gift baskets.

I hope they like my fans. :)