On Tour -- Eve of Darkness

EVE OF DARKNESS
A Marked Novel

by Sylvia Day

Tor Books
April 28, 2009
ISBN: 9780765360410

Cursed by God, hunted by demons, desired by Cain and Abel... All in a day's work.
For Evangeline Hollis, a long-ago fling with a bad boy from the wrong side of the tracks just became a disaster of biblical proportions. One night with a leather-clad man of mystery has led to a divine punishment: the Mark of Cain.
Thrust into a world where sinners are drafted to kill demons, Eve knows her learning curve must be short. A longtime agnostic, she begrudgingly maneuvers through a celestial bureaucracy where she is a valuable but ill-treated pawn. She's also become the latest point of contention in the oldest case of sibling rivalry in history...

But she'll worry about all that later. Right now she's more concerned with learning to kill while staying alive. And saving the soul she'd never quite believed she had.

Look for EVE OF DESTRUCTION and EVE OF CHAOS, both coming in June!

May you enjoy the dusk and the dawn
Robin

Unfinished Series

As a reader, this used to bother me a lot. There would be series that I LOVED but the author didn't finish them. As I became a more knowledgeable reader (and began to write seriously), I began to understand that the author's didn't finish the series because of market restraints -- they weren't being paid enough for the books, or the publisher dropped the series.

I still fervently believed that series should be finished, though I began to think that the time might come when I would be on the other side of the fence and be more cynical and money might rule.

That time has come. I can't afford to write things that don't sell. My mentor spent about four months and 200 pages fleshing out a wonderful paranormal/reincarnation/thriller series that didn't sell and has vowed to never do that again. I'm sorry this time came and that more of the shininess of being a published writer has rubbed off (and, believe me, I tried to keep that honeymoon of the first book golden as long as I could).

So, if series aren't finished, then I shrug my shoulders, as a reader and writer. It isn't always satisfying making up endings for the stories because you know, as the reader, that what you imagined might not be even near what the writer had envisioned.

I recently read an-end-of-the-series book where the author or the publisher had gotten tired of the idea and the series was wrapped up in an epilogue that I didn't care for. Better, even, a Dear Reader letter telling us that the series was done instead of this epilogue. Years passed in the epilogue, yet the current story wasn't mentioned. I will have to give some thought to the technique of such since I can't pinpoint all that bothered me about it. I didn't like the epilogue to the end of the Harry Potter series, either.

So, I hope you will learn to live with some of your series not being finished. It's sad and hard but the real world drives this business.

Take care and enjoy the stories you read today.
Robin

Nail Your Ending

Lately some of the stories I have read left me confused. What was the point? So, long or short, nail your endings by being very clear, and adding a satisfying emotional statement that shows and defines the arc of your character from the beginning to the end. How your character has CHANGED.

Writing a static character isn't as emotionally satisfying to the reader (or the writer). It's like, why did I bother to read this if nothing changed?

Someone (and I can't think who off the top of my head but probably Joseph Campbell), says stories can be divided into two categories. Someone new comes to town, or someone goes on a journey.

So when they do that, make sure you state it in an emotionally satisfying ending....She escaped her past, but found a new home. Her true home. The End.

For me, the ending must very clear and emotionally satisfying, otherwise I rarely read the writer again. There's a writer I absolutely loved before I seriously started writing but something about her work left me unsatisfied. It was the endings of her books. They were always rushed...ending a nicely paced story with a couple of paragraphs.

I think now that she sold a lot, and sold on proposal pages, so the front of the books were fine, but the ends weren't so good, she either lost interest in the story or had to hurry because of deadlines.

My 2 cents for the day.

May you have happy endings today.
Robin

Stories that Escape

I had a really lovely dream before I woke up, full of hope and encouragement and accepting yourself (which is one of my main themes) and being yourself and finding love.

I would love to write this story, which takes place in the contemporary world...but even thinking about defining it for the blog has rubbed some of the magic off, and it would need work to really motivate the hero to be where he was (which was an expensive hair salon)...and now even more magic has rubbed away because it's becoming work on a page and pedestrian instead of the lovely feeling it was.

And I wouldn't be able to express that feeling in its full loveliness, I know I don't have the talent to bring to you what the dream brought to me. This story has escaped, beyond my skill to reproduce, the best I can do is work on Heart Journey with renewed vigor.

I could maybe touch you, but not leave you with the encompassing joy and love...maybe only your own dreams can do that.

May you dream true and beautiful today and tonight.
Robin

Anthologies -- Short Stories -- Zanth

As a reader, I usually like anthologies -- if they're romance. I don't care too much for those that aren't. Usually because they have stories that don't end well, and you should all know by now that I'm a happily-ever-after sort of girl.

I don't judge mainstream in any contest, either. To me mainstream means a coming of age story and to all too many mainstream writers that means killing someone close to them so the character understands life through mortality.

I've been in one anthology and liked it a lot, I'd do others. I was asked to do a short story for the RMFW anthology but decided against it, mostly because no idea sang to me.

However, I did write a very short story that will go up on my website, though I think I'll post it here first. This week. So stay tuned.

It features Zanth, the FamCat from HeartMate and is in his point of view. There are two characters (as opposed to the crowd scene that I took to critique group, I love lots of people).

So...enjoy where your muse, whatever it is, leads you today.
Robin

Colorado Romance Writers' Conference

CRW is the local group of Romance Writers of America that I belong to. They do bi-annual conferences and the special guest this year is SHERRILYN KENYON. I am so pleased. I'm acquainted with Sherrilyn and if I told her my name, she'd recognize it, but not so acquainted that she'd recall face and name.

I'll be doing a seminar called "10 things you need in the first 3 pages" that I did at RMFW last year and I want to flesh it out more. I know my stuff, but I have only 30 minutes of material if I have to talk by myself and others won't participate. That hasn't usually been a problem with CRW, but you never know.

The conference is short, a Friday and Saturday, but it will be intense. ;) Lots of other good workshops are there.

So, if you're in the area, consider going.

May you be completely supported today.
Robin

Daily Challenge

I think this has been the most productive week ever for me, and all because of the following provided by Catie Murphy (C.E. Murphy).



Everybody who comes in joins us
in writing like crazy for 30 to 45 minutes, after which we take a 10-15
minute break, stretch, compare counts, then rinse and repeat.

I've been posting the URL and the time frame daily on weekdays at
http://community.livejournal.com/toonowrimo, but the general window is
9:30-12:30 Eastern, and the chat room is located at
http://www.tinychat.com/vjp2m at all times.


Of course, to keep up, I think I'll have to actually plan out what I'm going to write and where it will fit in the book. I do admit that after the session (which takes place early for me), I have trouble looking at the writing later in the day. Hope I'll work up to that.

May you find new and productive techniques today.
Robin

Quote

This has always been one of my favorite quotes and was one of the first I put on my Free Your Artist page (and, no, I haven't updated my website yet).

"Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint on it you can."

Danny Kaye

Be colorful today!
robin

Maps Again

I am working religiously from 7:30 am to 10:30 am/11:00 am so this will be brief since I just staggered out of bed.

I had second thoughts about the map of Celta yesterday. The western part of the continents have been fixed for years, but the eastern I just worked on last year - this year. So I opened the maps and fiddled and finally decided to stick with this one where that huge finger in the east is, instead of closing it.

So much for an hours work...

May you enjoy playing in many worlds today.

Does Writing Make You Happy? Reading?

For me, the answer is yes to both. I was an avid reader before I became a writer -- and I think that if you read enough good books you will absorb structure of storytelling.

I've found (especially lately) that the days I don't write I'm not as happy that evening or the next morning waking up as the days that I do...even if I'm reading new books or old, beloved stories.

So know what pleases you and do it. ;)

May you enjoy your work today.
Robin

Merging Scenes, Writing Etched In Stone, Self-Delusion

I have had a lot of trouble forcing myself to merge a couple of scenes. Both deal with one event (though I can use some for the next scene between these characters), and I knew how to merge them, but I just wouldn't sit down to do it.

Part of that was the thought that I'd already done it and lost the file, but when I searched my computer and actually got into the piece, that wasn't so.

Then I thought it was because I liked both scenes as they were and didn't want to change the writing to merge them.

A writer who wants to be published is not worth anything if s/he can't be edited. Critique buddies, beta readers, editors can help make the book better. If you consider your words etched in stone, write for yourself because if you can't take editorial advice, you won't go far in the business.

Now I believe I was afraid to merge because I thought I'd need to cut and I don't want to do that because I want to pretend I'm further along in the book than I am. I'm also having second guesses about this book, for whatever reason -- maybe because both the characters are fairly new to me. I worry that it will be chapter 4 before they meet, though they sense each other.

All around, self-delusion time. Sometimes that's allowed, like in other jobs, but like other creative jobs, if you go to the heart of your problem it might make you better.

Thanks for listening, and may your day go well.
Robin

Gender -- Voice -- Dialogue -- Drafts

I belong to a few non-writerly forums as "Rob" (which is actually what my Mom and brothers call me), various last names ;). Anyway, I hardly ever try to sound male, and unless I've been writing male POV for a manly man like Cratag, I have a suspicion that I come across gay.

Which is fine by me.

But I do take into account the speech patterns of guys when I write them...or females, too. For instance writing Del is proving to be a challenge. She doesn't analyze her emotions much, especially for a woman, or a heroine of my books. She's a practical woman and just goes forward...not like Alexa who I think is like Harry Potter who rushes forward impulsively, ready to do what needs to be done, almost fearless.

So Del speaks in short sentences and I've tried to keep the internals to a minimum. It might be a good exercise, to SHOW all her feelings in dialogue or interactions, even from other POVs...but that does take time and brainpower, the kind of thinking that can wear you out when writing it. So maybe this will be a revise-a-lot book, a book written in layers

Usually when I finish a first draft, it's all there, everything I have. I'll polish it some more, of course, and if Beta readers point out problems, I will fix, but I don't rush a draft through then go back and layer in stuff. Just not how I work.

That's the musing on writing for today. ;)

May you enjoy your work and play today, and keep an ear out for dialogue.
Robin

Writers: Self Doubt, Some Coping Mechanisms

We talked about this last night on Second Life (which I totally forgot to promote here, or tell you about until I was actually there). As far as I know, ALL writers doubt themselves and their quality of their work, and, no, this doesn't go away.

Of course, we do have help in this. ;) Unpublished writers who give their pieces to friends or teachers or a poorly supportive critique group can be ripped to shreds over the slightest negative remark.

Published authors have reviewers who dislike their work and anonymous bloggers who make fun of their work, and it's hard to be highminded about that.

Recently I've been worried that I write too cute (yes, I've been reading my amazon reviews among other things). This is a problem because *I* don't think what I write is too cute, and I never consciously write "cute." I know there's a line there, and I want to be on the side that will get me the most readers, of course.

So I doubt myself, and my writing. If you don't, let me know.

Things to do about this:
1) If it's winter and gray (or gray), get yourself a full spectrum light.
2) If you're solitary, take the computer OUT and interact.
3) Exercise-Movement (I have some that are EASY, let me know if you need these, though they are on a DVD I bought that is about $20, I think).
4) Ask the support of other writers. We are there for you.
5) Affirmations/EFT (which I'm not sure I really know what it means, but I've been doing some with Brad Yates on You Tube).
6) Do Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way morning pages/freewriting.

May enjoy all your creative endeavors today.
Robin

On 2nd Life Now

I forgot to promote, HEADBANG. I am on Publishing Island.

That's the promo, and me in the foreground, with wings...and a bubble wand....

love robin

On Tour: Kiss of Darkness by Jennifer St. Giles

Jennifer goes to the same retreat I do in November and is a really wonderful person.

May you enjoy talking about your friends today.

Robin


Kiss of Darkness by Jennifer St. Giles
In Kiss of Darkness, a vampire bite has Sheriff Sam Sheridan on the fast track to hell and demons are taking over Twilight Tennessee. He's battling not only to save both his soul and his town, but also his love for one woman, Emerald Linton. Emerald has a secret that could destroy both her and Sam. She is an angel, and if she can't save Sam from turning evil, then she'll have to kill him, no matter how much of her heart belongs to him. Sam is determined to take as many demons and vampires down with him as he can and to protect Emerald, but as the seductive dark power in him grows will he condemn Emerald to share his doomed fate, or will they both find a way out of hell?

A New Book Widget Thing

I only uploaded a bio and the excerpt to HeartMate and a link to the HeartMate Worlds page with character interviews, etc. just to see how this works.

May you enjoy playtime today.
Robin

Writer vs. Author

At one of the first talks/discussions I had with a local writers' group, I was asked why I referred to myself as a writer instead of an author. I was flabberghasted and stammered a while, then just said that I considered myself a writer as opposed to an author.

I still do.

But it's useful sometimes to face the outside world as an "Author," a person who is published. Like for business cards.

Still, if I'm with other writers I'm always a writer, too.

I was watching Castle last night (ok, I like the actor, and though the author is only shown "writing" for approximately ten seconds every episode, and I found a couple of premises in the opener ridiculous, I've come to like the series). Castle was with the cops, they poured from the car and put on vests. He'd ordered a bullet proof vest online that looked like theirs. On the back it said "Writer."

At least the show got that right.

May you enjoy who and what you are today.
Robin

1099s

Since I don't have a day job anymore, I don't get W2 forms. I get 1099s from Penguin for HeartMate and Heart Thief royalties (I sold those without an agent) and from my current agent. The one from my current agent does NOT include their commission, so that is a business deduction.

May you have an easy tax season this year.
Robin

Protector of the Flight on Nightline!

Of course a friend (and my agent) saw the segment before I did and let me know about it. It was a fast scan of spines and the back cover, but I am very pleased. Mom will be thrilled. Cats are sleeping.

I, of course, not only have nothing to record the thing, but my tv is so old it is not cable ready nor does it have a remote. I plan on getting a new one this week, but that doesn't help.

Still, very pleased and thanking the universe for such luck.

Beaming, and may you feel proud of your work today,
Robin

UPDATE, TUESDAY. PIC AND LINK ADDED>

Story goal/Characters' Goals

Ok, I just wrote and deleted a long rambling story about an accident leading to a power failure in our neighborhood late last night. Mainly because there was no point to the story.

Even in everyday storytelling you should have a story goal, something that will give your listeners satisfaction. So if I were try to tell the story again, there would be several points: The power went out and there was an instant of panic as to whether it was house electricity or the neighborhood. The neighborhood went black. I was prepared and dealt with it...and the power didn't come back on. As I lay in the dark and quiet and wondered if the electricity would come on before my waterbed cooled and went frigid I thought of past times and I was glad to be here in the now. I knew if I awoke this morning and the electricity problem hadn't been fixed I also knew I could cope with any challenges.

So that's pretty much a story goal, and a lot shorter than all the distracted thoughts, the weather last night and this morning (cloudy couldn't see the just-past-full moon), the fact that this machine is hooked up to an outlet with the emergency battery for my security system...the wrenching of sirens through the neighborhood...all the unimportant stuff that meandered out of me gone.

In critique, one of the first questions we think about is scene goal, story goal and if it's not there, those are the first words out of the first critiquer's mouth. Make sure you know it and it's there. Characters' goals are important, too. What does he/she want right now, in this scene. I wanted the power to come back on so I could continue reading. That didn't happen. I wanted to wake up to a warm house and bed, that did, but I didn't know that when I went to sleep. I did do things differently than normal last night.

Anyway, remember your goals. May you have a lovely day however you choose to spend it.

Robin

Settings -- Exotic and Local

Writers use everything. I knew when I saw that picture on the travel magazine of the house in Corenna Plini that I would use it. In fact I went back and forth in making it where Lark Hawthorn Collinson (book 3 Heart Duel, Healer & Holm Holly, sword on the cover ;)) stayed. I wrote and rewrote the scene where she stared out arched windows. Finally though, I didn't think the place would be called "Midclass Lodge" and the lodge was close to a beach (also in Heart Quest, Trif Clover and Ilex Winterberry, braclet on the cover). But Midclass Lodge was Dolphin Square in London, across the street from the Thames.



This place was on a cliff. I always started Heart Change with a woman on the cliff. In fact, now that I think about it, one of my very first stories started with a girl on a cliff. Not sure where that came from, but it's been there in my head.

So the house in Corenna Plini (photo by Robert Everts, turned peach by me) is the Exotic setting, as are all my maps from my very first stories I told myself in my head and drew out (Six Bays, don't know if I still have it). But more mundane settings that I know pop up, too. Marian's apartment in Sorceress of Faith was mine when I lived in Boulder. Jenni's house in Timeshifter is mine.

Raz Cherry's apartment is down the street and around the corner from me. I'll be getting a picture of it as I start walking the neighborhood with a camera.

Writers use everything. Places, events that happen to them or friends. Things they do (Qigong turned into Tai Chi in Echoes in the Dark, mainly because Qi Gong hasn't been around as long as I thought it should be for Jikata to know it). I expect this eye stuff I'm going through will make it into a book, too.

That's it for now. The book is going well so I'm happy.
May you enjoy all the settings you move through today.
Robin

On Tour: Eternal Moon

EXCERPT ON LINK ABOVE



In ETERNAL MOON Rebecca York creates a classic clash between good and evil–with a werewolf twist.

Renata Cordona is the reincarnation of an ancient goddess. She and her lover have met again and again down through the ages–only to be destroyed by a demon bent on conquering the world. In her twenty-first century incarnation, Renata is a private detective.

As the book opens, Renata is on an undercover assignment to catch a serial killer who has been murdering female real estate agents, when she’s almost attacked by a pack of vicious dogs. They are chased off by a lone wolf who swiftly disappears. Then, out of nowhere, werewolf Jacob Marshall materializes, and his electrifying touch brings out all the sexual longings she’s repressed because everyone she has ever loved has died a horrible death. Is Jacob the key to breaking the ancient curse that hangs over them? Or will the evil stalking them down through the ages destroy them both–this time for all eternity?

May you triumph in every battle today.
Robin

First Tulips

May you enjoy flowers today.

Robin

Quote -- Reading -- Margaret Atwood

More of your brain is involved when reading than it is when you watch television... because you are supplying just about everything... you're a creator. Margaret Atwood

On Tour -- The Vampire's Quest by Vivi Anna

The Vampire’s Quest
A Valorian Chronicles Novel
By
Vivi Anna

Silhouette Nocturne
April 1

In a race against life and death, one woman holds the key to sanity and salvation

After escaping from the Otherworld Crime Unit, Kellen Falcon came to Nouveau Monde to crack a rare blood disease. But the European hotbed of temptation yielded sport no vampire could resist—criminologist Sophie St. Clair. And with only days to live, Kellen sought sweet release from her to escape a savage past.

The lycan beauty wasn't one to stray from her pact. But an investigation into a downtown bombing now tied the two together. And it wasn't long before Kellen's smoldering eyes and Sophie's fierce desire for this vampire put her loyalties to the test….

I've enjoyed this series.

May all your quests lead you to where you need to be.
Robin

Living the Dream

I've been worried. About money problems and tax problems and eye problems. I've been scared and lonely and bored (and irritated that I'm bored because I've always figured if you're bored it's your own darn fault).

Just before I awoke this morning I had a wonderful dream that faded so quickly that I barely remember a detail or two.

But I do recall I was at a birthday party for me, a very small party, and people gave me wonderful gifts. Two were sort of these gel things that you could poke into different shapes (you think the waterbed had something to do with that?) one in deep lavender, the other in rich emerald. There was a story by me that hadn't been published yet, in an anthology with Mercedes Lackey (hey, could happen!), given to me by Misty herself (all I know about the story was that it was darkish and involved a scary clown, and yes, a scary clown story came into my life recently, maybe I'll tell you about that later).

(Kettle just sang and I stopped to make powdered hot chocolate with a teesie bit of rum for flavor -- bought a new bottle two weeks ago during the book negotiations).

So I sit here with my cocoa and rum and think about my life. My second mortgage is pretty much paving my way, the book money helps.

But it's a life that, like most unpublished writers, I dreamed of living. Getting up and having the freedom to write all day.

It's a job, and not quite what I figured it would be. But I have been given gifts and I need to make sure I don't waste them. So, even though I'm scared and need to face other facts of life later today, I'm going to do my EFT affirmations that a friend sent me, some limbering exercises of Qigong, put on my subliminal music, and get Raz out of the theater...where he'll sense he's being watched.

But not by the scary clown.

Enjoy your dreams today.
Robin

Films from Books

I've been watching the Lifetime Nora Roberts movies and can say that last year's were butchered but they seem to be better this year as if the screenwriter has gotten their hand in.

I would imagine the points you need to include in a film made from a movie, if you are going to follow the whole story line, are the primary plot points -- first turning point, climax, black moment, etc. The characters are streamlined too.

In any event Northern Lights is one of my favorite books and I wasn't too pleased with it since it also cut one of my major favorite characters. The hero's growth point was completely different.

I also watched the Karate Kid movies which I had. The entertainment is still there, especially in the character of Danny LaRusso, but the villains were strictly cardboard. In any event, I still enjoyed them which is the real reason you keep movies and books around, right? To make you feel good?

The flashes continue, the floaters are still there, the weather is frigid and snowy and I still have to deal with messy business tomorrow, then taxes.

So, since Tommy got me up at dawn, I think I'll go back to bed for a couple of hours until my usual brunch crew date.

Enjoy the peace of the day,
Robin

Eyes

Well, I requested information from my friends' network about an ophthalmologist (and thank Heavens for friends who live in the neighborhood who have local people) and called an eye doctor. The office said to come in now, so I did. After many and varied tests, I found out that some of the gel-ish portion of my eyeball liquified and separated from the back of the eye, some of this is normal as we age, but the Dr. called it a "whole sheet," so apparently it was easy for her to see. Nothing to be done to fix. Eventually the floaters/spiderwebs of this gel will subside to the bottom of my eye where I can't see it.

My eyes stayed dilated for about 7 hours (they lie, lie, lie when they say it goes away in an hour). Since I was dealing with business stuff before the call, there was no writing yesterday. After the appt. there was no email, tv, reading, computer. I talked on the phone to Mom and friends. After that, I listened to an audio book. Soup for dinner. One of the things my roomie (interior designer) did when she was here was to put most of my lights on dimmer switches so I had the option of very low light and that was good.

Floaters are a concern, but the real thing to be worried about are FLASHES. So if you have FLASHES then floaters it's a good indication that the retina's attachments are failing. That is considered an EMERGENCY MEDICAL CONDITION, so treat it like one.

The floaters right now are a black string-thread like stuff at the top of my vision.

May you enjoy all your senses today. Be thankful for them. I am.
Robin

Grumpy -- Write on

I'll keep this short today since I am very grumpy, feeling pretty stiff, have developed spots before my left eye over the last couple of days, and have cut the pad over my middle finger of my left hand (bandage currently off).

I've also been dealing with some messy problems that do impact a writer's life but that I don't feel right in talking about publicly.

So I'm going to take some aleve (drug of choice) and head on to writing. I am behind in my daily word count.

May you all feel GREAT today.
Robin

It Just Slipped Out

All right, so I was writing:

"Even before the curtain rose, there was a buzz from the audience – mostly nobles. who didn't have any pressing engagments for the next day. The house was full, unusual on this last weekend night. Gossip about the petty thefts must have made the rounds, along with the old rumor that the Newest Globe was cursed...if the portraits of the founders weren't hanging in the Green Room."

I had no idea that there would be a curse in this book. In fact, a curse has no place in this book, and is not part of the plot.

So, like, do I add a thread? Or do I cut the line? Or do I leave it and lead readers on?

It would be an interesting twist, a cursed theater, but it's not really where I want to go. I have done (and sold) the synopsis and there is no curse, the plot is pretty full as it is, and as always I don't have the time to mess around with a new plot thread. Again, if I was unpublished and playing with the story, I could do this. Not now.

It depends, some, on atmosphere. I am building up to a party atmosphere (wherein Raz and Del meet), not spiralling down to a tragedy (Tragedy in Chapter Three, that has a ring).

Nor is anything going to happen during the play -- which is a mystery -- or that night, and the founder's portraits (new ones) will be mentioned as replaced. So why keep the line?

It could be set-up for a book far, far in the future, but maybe only I would catch it, and the line has nothing to do with THIS story. So the line goes. But it was nice to think about a little.

May you enjoy your imagination today.
Robin

Actor Hero - Raz Cherry/Gilles Marini

It's common advice not to do heroes in the arts...but I'm on book 9 of the Heart series, it's futuristic, and I have already introduced Raz Cherry in Heart Fate.

Then there's Gilles Marini in Dancing With The Stars this season. I couldn't be more blessed with inspiration for Raz (though I think Raz has blue eyes and a native American skin tone).

The above link shows the interview, bits of rehearsal, Gilles dancing the Argentine Tango (which mentor called a perfect definition of "Alpha Male"), the scores, and a tiny bit more interview. What I REALLY liked about the (last) interview is the brief bit of "It's my job" to act the dance, a complete acceptance of who/what he is.

And yes, I will definitely be watching, and saving bits for inspiration. The tango itself can be seen as a mini-story.

May you enjoy all sorts of inspiration today.
Robin