Aug 7
Happens every time. I get two-thirds of the way through a book, and I start to hate the sight of the characters. Even the interesting ones. This puts up a mental block in my brain, and I start to go into a tailspin of, “I’m terrible at this! Why did I ever think I could write a book? Nobody likes me; everybody hates me; guess I’ll eat some worms.” Read more
Remember my scheme to make millions of dollars by offering my books for sale on Amazon Prime Day? Alas, it didn’t work out quite as well as I’d hoped.
The most likely reason is that my both new content and my sales were centered around a series that isn’t terribly popular. Not because it’s awful, but it was some of my first published work, which shows; and it doesn’t fit well into a particular genre (it’s meant to be historical fantasy, but isn’t quite fantastical enough).
Before you say, “What’d you go and do a fool thing like that for?” allow me to say that I was recovering from the plague (not literally, but sometimes it felt like that) and I had to work with what I had. I had one other short that might have worked, but it’s a standalone and I wrote it when I had no idea how to structure short stories. So I’m saving that one for later, possibly after it’s been through a couple rounds of editing.
But I’ve been thinking. Read more
Jul 10
I’ve been beyond sick for the past two weeks, with the cold-that-would-not-leave. It’s probably a sinus infection at this point, which means I’m wandering around in a fog and my head feels like it weighs nine thousand pounds. Yippee!
But I realized recently that Amazon Prime Day is July 15 and 16. Read more
I’ve been a bit down in the dumps recently. Not, “Aaiiee!! The world is ending!” but more of, “Blah. Existing is hard work. I’d take a nap, but my brain takes that as a cue to jump its little bicycle chain and spin freely.” Read more
I’ve been adding to the Garia Cycle in my spare time. The first book, A Kingdom of Glass, was my first publication. It shows, and that’s part of why I’ve put the series on the back burner; it doesn’t have many fans who’ll get wound up if they have to wait for the next book (also, the next book refuses to cooperate, even when plied with large amounts of caffeine. Later books are coming along just fine). Read more
May 29
Recently, I’ve been reading the collected short stories of Pat McManus, because I needed something light and funny. For those of the audience who aren’t familiar with this author, Patrick F. McManus was a writer of short, humorous stories that mostly deal with the outdoors- hunting, fishing, camping, and the like. He was born during the Great Depression and died about a year ago, having written ten or so collections of shorts that mostly started out as articles in outdoor magazines, as well as a series of crime novels. He also taught creative writing and journalism, back when that actually meant something.
But as I said, he died last year. So, why the eulogy? Well, it’s partly because I’m rereading his works now. Also, I finally persuaded my husband to pick up my copy of Never Sniff a Gift Fish. I wasn’t sure if it’d be to his taste, but he seems to enjoy the stories, so, having corrupted the only other human I see on a regular basis, I’m now searching for new and innocent minds. You guys fit the bill. Okay, maybe not the ‘innocent’ part, but close enough. Read more
If you’ve been following my adventures, you already know that I recently traveled overseas for a week. If you didn’t know that, welcome to the mayhem!
Lest you have any doubts, the trip was amazing. We got all of our catastrophes out of the way before it even began (missed our flight and had to do an eleventh hour rescue to get another one) so the rest of it went pretty smoothly. I got to see a neat little microcosm of northern Portugal, had some experience in ‘how the other half lives’ in more ways than one, and oh, yes, had a second wedding. Read more
 | Writing Observer on Gack, ack and crap |
 | Mary on Writing at Speed: Good, Bad, o… |
 | The Phantom on Gack, ack and crap |
 | leedunning on Remembrances and Revelations |
 | Carrington Dixon on Maslow and Conan |
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