Tale of Two Books

Never have I had two books on the go at the same time.  This is very weird and it probably means my blogs will not be as frequent.  Lol!

I got caught up in my gaming book this week when I thought about smallpox and wondered how I could get my modern girl, Sarah, vaccinated.  You may or may not know that smallpox was irradicated as a human disease in the 1970s and no one has been vaccinated against it since.  This led to a discussion with my microbiologist hubby who said why not have my character come in contact with cowpox.  Originally, cowpox was the disease used to vaccinate people against smallpox.

Turns out Europe has cowpox among its cattle but North American herds are free of the disease.  How could I get my Canadian girl exposed?  More digging on the internet led to an article written on the natural host of the disease which is rats.  The last outbreak being among a breeding colony in Germany.   Another stumbling block for me because Alberta, where Sarah lives, is rat-free.  But, rats are used in scientific research so I just had to have her meet up with a lab rat.  I wrote the scene yesterday and I think it will work.

I love learning something new when I research my books.  The fact that rats are the host for cowpox was a gem of information that not even my hubby knew.

So it's back to the books--literally.

New Project

I began a new project last week.  Years ago, my sister, a psychic, did a reading for me using rune stones.  I was working on the Sceptre of Terran-Gayle at the time but her guide suggested I should write a cookbook.  It was a neat idea.  I began collecting recipes and changing them to suit my tastes.  Every recipe book has a theme and I considered and rejected many.   I had thought of a book based on characters from my books (Geri's Bread, Jarvis' Stew), then thought perhaps I could do food for college students.  I even bandied about the idea that the recipes could revolve around my favourite fantasy creatures--dragons.  Nothing seemed to click.

Last week, I created a new letterbox which required buying red duct tape and that's when a character came to life.  I had the recipes to suit this individual but I decided I needed to get to know him better before I began assembling the recipes.  I gave him a Twitter account and we'll see how he runs with that.

Also on my mind is my aboriginal novel.  My hubby promised to read White Crane and give me his critique.  I had the proof copy printed in June and have been waiting for him to finish A Game of Thrones.  He is a slow reader.  He flew to Toronto this weekend for a wedding so I slipped my book into his bag.  He's read the first two chapters and has already decided he hates the word 'roiling'.  I guess I'll have to find some other word to say what I mean.  He thinks it's an archaic word and should never be used.  Of course, it appears in crossword puzzles all the time.

Definition of roil:

1. (tr) to make (a liquid) cloudy or turbid by stirring up dregs or sediment

2. (intr) (esp of a liquid) to be agitated or disturbed

3. (intr) Dialect to be noisy or boisterous