RACHAEL STAPLETON

As I sit at my desk watching the steam roll off my coffee, I take in the dark wood paneling, old books and brick fireplace that make up my study. Something about this space reminds me of that Victorian steampunk film, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. You know the one, set in the late 19th century featuring an assortment of fictional literary characters appropriate to the period. Maybe I love it because it's filled with Victorian Era superheroes or maybe because it draws on the works of some of the greats: Jules Verne, H. G. Wells, Bram Stoker, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Oscar Wilde, Edgar Allan Poe, and Mark Twain—just to name a few—or maybe I just really love it because of the kick-ass library. I truly am an atmospheric person. Architecture, decor and everything old, these are the keys to my creative spark. My husband promises to build floor to ceiling library shelves complete with a rolling rack. But even just as it is, this room is too beautiful and too inspirational not to ...

Today all is right with the world. I'm sitting at my kitchen table, light reflecting off the pool enjoying a large cup of coffee and reading my Editor's Evaluation Notes. It's like ecstasy for my mind.  Here's a direct quote out of the evaluation.  "The evaluator still finds Sophia/Sapphira to be an appealing character. Here is a line that made the evaluator laugh out loud.  p. 116 Maybe I did watch too many scary shows or maybe I just needed to smoke a fatty.  Glad to see they have a sense of humour or perhaps just the munchies. :)  Apart from the usual mechanical stuff, they find it ... dare I say, perfect. Well, at least they're not pointing out any flaws and they're constantly praising my changes in every section. Which ultimately means no more edits for me. The final copy edit will lay with them. *Sigh

I am participating in an online writers event called The Next Big Thing which provides an overview of all kinds of upcoming and recent novels.   It's kind of fun like a Blog Hop. Each person tagged answers a series of interview questions and posts them on his/her blog or website while linking to other writers. My thanks to Ann  Dulhanty , who tagged me from  her blog . Ann and I are in the same writers group The B7. Ann has a great sense of humour which I get into enjoy weekly when she reads excerpts from her work. The story Ann is currently working on is Urban Fantasy called the Odds of the God about Brigit, a blackjack-dealing, Vegas druid on a mission to save the world. Below, I’ve answered questions about my novel and at the end I direct you to the blog of another author who will tell you about her upcoming story next week. 1) What is the working title of your next book? The Temple of Indra Jewels  2) Where did the idea come from for the ...