When the flush of a newborn sun fell first on Eden's green and gold, Our father Adam sat under the Tree and scratched with a stick in the mold; And the first rude sketch that the world had seen was joy to his mighty heart, Till the Devil whispered behind the leaves: "It's pretty, but... Continue Reading →
The Care and Feeding of a Hyperactive Muse
I am a very disorganized writer, and basically lazy. At least my conscious mind is. The Muse, AKA my subconscious, not so much. In fact, hyperactive is probably not the right term, but . . . Well let’s just say that one day, about . . . oh dear . . . Twenty-five years ago?... Continue Reading →
Trimming Out the Story
I don't mean cutting bits. I mean adding them. The little finishing touches that really tie everything together. Today we begin the final stage of the home improvement, and will be installing wainscoting and trim. The walls are painted, the carpeting is 90% gone, the gorgeous oak floors are showing for the first time in,... Continue Reading →
The Reluctant Publisher
I’ve been wearing my publisher’s hat for two weeks now. Editing, fixing the errors my beta readers find, as well as addressing their comments and questions. Formatting. Covers. (Why does it usually take me three covers to get them right. Or at least acceptable?) Front matter. Back matter. Ahh! Blurb, forgot the blurb again! And... Continue Reading →
The Post Apocalyp . . . err, NaNoWriMo Wasteland
So, You finished up NaNoWriMo and now you have this heap of words. It doesn’t matter whether you “won” or not. 20K or 100K, you wrote it fast and Oh! My! What a mess! So pat yourself on the back, brace yourself and look at what you’ve got. It’s really easy, when you’re just writing... Continue Reading →
Yesterday I Did Not Write
I had been writing every day this month. Not a lot, some days. Looking at my tracking, I've ranged from 12 words, up to 3989 just a couple of days ago. Mostly, though, it's been two-digit days. Last night? My day went from a good day, wrapping up the week with getting away from work... Continue Reading →
Writers Are Asking–Or Being Asked–The Wrong Questions
I'm at that phase of a couple of projects where I need to make certain decisions. The most important one is whether to take one of the projects (which is a brand new story/series) the traditional or indie route. There are other questions as well, especially if the answer to the first question is indie.... Continue Reading →
When the old is new
Once upon a time, in trad pub, books that were perennial midlist sellers were re-issued every 10 years with new covers to keep up with the changing trends, but otherwise left alone to continue making money. Books that didn't sell weren't reprinted, and the rights were reverted. If another house wanted to make a stab... Continue Reading →
That’s my Secret
I'm tired, first of all. Secondly, I'm always tired. And finally, that means that when I'm writing, I'm writing through a fog of fatigue. This is... not always true. Sometimes, briefly, I am not feeling tired and I am usually dictating in my car on the way to work when that happens. I have to... Continue Reading →
Dredits
Dread Edits, only when I was thinking this through I ran the two words into one in my head. I don't think I'm alone in dreading the editing process. It's tedious, it can make a book you enjoyed writing into a boring chore, but it's necessary. Editing is part of the process, even if, or... Continue Reading →