Writering angst
I’m working on another project, working title Soul Mage. It’s traditional fantasy. Here’s the Pinterest board on it if you’re interested. Anyhow, I had the entire thing plotted and was starting to write the initial chapters, when another character stepped…
The cutting room floor
I finished the revisions of Blood Winter. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on your perspective, I cut a whole lot and added a whole lot. At least half of the book is new. There’s a whole other blog post to be…
Of chickens and revision
Today I got a call from a friend who’d been attacked by a wooden chicken while cleaning and ended up with two broken bones, a chipped bone, and some ligament issues in one of her hands. This same friend is…
What is True
I’m linking this to Neil Gaiman’s commencement speech at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. It’s brilliant. It’s inspiring. And as I’m working on this revision, it reminds me what the writing is and should be about. Today, I…
How a book is born
This is an infographic on how a book is born. Beverage warning.
Ready, set, action!
I’m working on the new first chapter for Blood Winter. One of the issues is how fast to get into the action. It used to be that you could get into action after a few pages or even a chapter.…
The end is nigh
Tomorrow is the end of the semester. Well, except for Saturday’s graduation and the two theses I have to read and hand back to students for revision. They are a bit (a lot) last minute, so I’ll be spending some…
and the cold came back
We’re under a winter storm watch. Again. I don’t think we’ll actually get snow, but it had to come the night before the girlie’s birthday party. To which people have still not RSVPed, so I don’t even know if anyone…
mythical birds
I spent some of yesterday and today researching mythical birds. I have this scene in mind where they do an Alfred Hitchcockian sort of attack on *name redacted*. I have this picture in one book of the perfect birds. But…
The beat goes on
Today I’ve been trying to think up magical problems. Specifically, really big magical problems. And I’d be more specific, but that would mean spoilers. The problem is thinking up the right magical problem for the characters and situation and that…