Interruptions

I recently finished a book. It was a feeling of great relief, since I had begun to wonder if I would ever finish it. I'm still a relatively new writer, and I was slowly convincing myself that the other books had been a fluke. I couldn't do this, I wasn't a real writer... It took... Continue Reading →

Jumping the Shark

Jumping the Shark Pam Uphoff "Wait! I know! I'll write a mirror image story! On this world Ra'd will be a criminal . . . and his sweet little sister will be number one on the shoot-on-sight list! Yes!" This is how you know you've used up all your ideas and need to back off.... Continue Reading →

Unexpected Findings

Research is a challenge for me. Not the actual tracking down of weird and obscure information: I enjoy that, and do pretty well at it. No, for me the challenge is avoiding the rabbit hole of related interesting tidbits. Of which there are an abundance. One of the fun aspects of the current work in... Continue Reading →

Truth in advertizing

Now there’s lies, damned lies, and statistics… and as far as most of us are concerned, beyond that, advertizing. Especially if it comes with ‘But wait, there’s more…” Of course there always IS more. Usually the parts you find out later, when it is too late and you’ve parted with your money for handy-dandy gutter-swizzle,... Continue Reading →

Gothic Dreams

I had gothic dreams last night. Most likely the product of working on the finale of my novel. Not that it's gothic at all... For those of you aren't familiar with gothic romance, it's all dark and stormy nights, tons of angst, and heroines who are too stupid to live. Literally. I'm not familiar with... Continue Reading →

Breaking through the blockage

Two of my esteemed fellow Mad Genius Club authors have tackled the problem of "writer's block" over the past two days.  First, Sarah Hoyt discussed "The Curse of the Second Novel". Second novel curse is the near ability to complete a novel after either your first sold novel or a novel that either performed or... Continue Reading →

When You’re Lost In The Depths Of The Pants

First, blame Sarah. Her post yesterday started this, particularly the commenters who identified themselves as pantsers (or in some cases, Panzers, which are clearly Germanic pantsers with really big guns. I’m presuming the DD caliber rack-mounted weapons I possess count, and I’m pretty sure there’s Germanic somewhere in the family tree). Of course, when you’re... Continue Reading →

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