oh! the delights of a wicked garden!

As I sip a glass of Duplin Scuppernog wine bottled in North Carolina, I work on my art journals for deadly and wicked gardens.  I love growing poisonous plants - they truly amaze me, their beauty,  their disguise, their quiet powers.  Even plants I didn't grow on purpose in my garden are poisonous, such as azaleas, daffodil and hyacinth bulbs.  There are many more than you would believe.
So to coordinate with my steampunk stories involving dangerous plants, The Orchid Collector, Marquette de Fleur and The Foxglove Broadsides,()a novel)  I listen to the languorous and atmospheric goth/steampunk band, Life's Decay,  from France, (how appropriate!) as I create Deadly Garden journals... a smattering of botanical prints, a bit of explanation, various embellishments and handmade papers, a warning here and there, with plenty of room for wicked gardeners to write of their own fascinations and experiments.

I've been cultivating poisonous plants for over 29 years, ever since I had a tiny garden in Dracut, Mass. near the shores of Lake Massacuppic and was curiously surprised when a rogue plant sprouted and grew to about 3 feet.  Research led to discover it was Deadly Nightshade and I've been hooked on deadly plants since. I've only been able to have gardens off and on, but Foxglove is my mainstay. (If we ever meet, ask me about my own Digitalis Purpura rush to the emergency room).
I'd already been inspired to make a  poison or deadly garden journal when the Widow Kate Next of Steampunk Empire told me about Amy Stewart's amazing book, Wicked Plants.  I still don't own a copy but will after reading portions and hearing Amy's delightful talk on her book. Like me, she takes a wicked pleasure in the macabre.  Amy has a wildly humorous side but is also a highly knowledgeable horticulturist with many books for the care of normal plants and  flowers under her belt. 
As I write this,  a frightful dark and threatening storm is blowing in, thrashing the trees, darkening the sky to dusk, even though it's only 5:00 pm, as if nature would chastise me for exploiting her decadent darlings.

Nick Valentino in Dreams of Steam

Good news in the publishing and Steampunk worlds!  A new steampunk anthology has just been released,  Dreams of Steam and is available at Barnes & Noble.  What makes it even better is it features a story by my friend Nick Valentino.  Engine 316 is  a story where he takes a weird west steampunk angle.  I can't wait.  I've been looking for a new steampunk anthology which features contemporary writers with new works as opposed to reprints. Although I love what the Van Der Meers did for the genre in their anthology simply titled,  Steampunk,  I wish there had been more from new writers. Although, on the other hand, someone did need to set the historical precedents all in one place and they were the perfect pair to perform such a feat.

I met Nick at The South Carolina Literary Conference and discovered he was a great guy as well as a steampunk author of note.  His book, Thomas Riley, is a rollicking steampunk ride - inventive, quirky, full of  technological marvels, alchemy, airships and action!  It's available both in print and on kindle at Amazon and you can get a signed copy at a variety of Cons. He travels all the time and I'm looking forward to his panel at Dragon Con in Atlanta. I don't know if I mentioned this before. but I'm even more pleased because a few weeks ago Nick notified me that I'd won a pair of goggles from him in a Twitter contest.
And as a fan of steampunk, who is currently writing steampunk short stories and novels, including: Foxglove Broadsides, The Orchid Collector and Marquete de Fleur, and also building a character or characters (steam printer, botanist obsessed with poisonous plants and hot air balloonist) I was in dire need of goggles, not knowing how to make them and not having procured them yet.  I focused a bit too much on the "pretties" of the genre and neglected the necessities, as I am wont to do often, I'm afraid.

The Value of Writers' Groups

I urge every writer out there to seek out a group you can work with. Over the years, I've been in several groups, and went to the first meetings of many more. Only two have worked out, My Hatchet writing group in the late 80's which eventually becamse the South Carolina Writer's Workshop, (SCWW) the most established statewide writers organization, where I learned to develop a thick skin, and the Reedy River Rats. All the other groups were not good fits due to their approach, level of dedication or style of writing. You have to fit, you have to all have the same values, even though you don't have to write in the same genres or styles or write poetry, prose or nonfiction.

Over the years, the Rats has worked with all three including some odd offshoots such as comics and gaming.

And we all agree how the melding has been something intangible, alchemical, and transformative, both in our writing and in our daily lives. We've become friends, cxonfidants, cheerleaders and editors for each other, but most importantly we all agree on what a writer's life understands. Something, many other people in our lives don't relaly comprehend.

The Rats has met now, in various incarnations since 2003. That's a long time. Many years we met every week and while some years it was off and on, we were always able to pick right back up and get to work. Each time a members has moved away, there were tough adjustments, as each member brought their own style of fascinating writing to the table, as well as their unique perspectives on writing, whether it be on the concepts, storylines, plots, characters, grammar or technical issues. I've learned so much from each person who has been a member and was sad when each person left, some of them moving away. I've especially missed: Wendy Swearingen, Chris Patrick, Shaggy Randal, Avery Moore. Throughout this life-changing meeting of the minds with these talented people, I became a better writer, editor and publisher. Mostly because we all learned to be honest and frank with our critiques, forthcoming with suggestions to back up the critiques, support when we couldn't write, enthusiasm when things went well and an open minded genuine interest in each other's work, progress and success.

Now we're down to Brian K. Ladd and B. Miller, both published authors in the horror, steampunk and literary fields.  We meet at Coffee Underground in the Red Room weekly and hash out novels, short stories, poetry.  We compare notes, share markets, go on literary field trips to readings, book fairs, workshops, and are now planning what conferences and cons we'll attend over the next couple of years.  B Miller is a specilaist in grammar, continuity,  action, crime and police stuff.  Brian handles history, philosophy, continuity, languages, research and character. Both of them are great with character development.  I guess my forte is plot, psychological aspects and motivations of character, some grammar and the publishing industry, markets, trends, agents small presses. 
The feedback we get can operate in many ways, encouragement as we're in the process, editing as we near the end of a chapter or short story, market suggestions and acknowledgement of when a piece is ready to submit.  Sometimes, the meetings take odd turns, the feedback is a surprise and sends our work reeling off into other directions, into novels or into realms we would never have attemped on out own.  From our most recent meeting I was confused as to what direction my story, "The Orchid Collector" was taking and the feedback was unanimous to take it out of the high fantasy realm and to put it back in the realm of steampunk erotica/dark fantasy since I'd already written another story Marquette de Fleur, which features one of the characters. So I played some steam wave music by Vernian Process and I'm on my way.
Don't underestimate the power of writers' groups.  If you're not in one now, try and locate one.  If it's a good match you will be amazed at how much your work improves.