Into the second pass of the draft, where I think “yeah okay, that doesn’t work any more, rip out entire pages, and rewrite everything to be stronger, faster, more likely to leave you going ‘oh my god she didn’t she did!’” Hopefully, anyway. —– “Stop that.†She looked up at Gabriel, blinking.  “What?†“You were […]
Original opening line of Book 2: “They’d left nothing alive.“ After an entire day of word-wrangling, the new opening line: “Isobel had been riding for three days, two to her destination and then a turnaround, when she found the bodies.” Yeah, that works. But dogdamn it, it took me HOURS and BRAIN BLOOD (and at
Reason #toodamnmany why writers drink… Read More »
I spent much of the weekend making plans for the research trip for the current WiP (Book 2 of The Devil’s West.).  If nothing else, by the end of this series, I will know my country a hell of a lot better via boots-on-the-ground… (we’ll be driving from Washington State to Wyoming via Idaho and
Research RoadTrip 2015 Read More »
1. Make arborio rice with ¼ of the water replaced by (boxed) butternut soup. 2. Add sweet curry powder, onion powder, and garlic powder to the rice as it cooks. Eat half for breakfast (shut up it’s a perfectly good breakfast) and set aside a cup (or more) in the fridge. 3. Within a day
Another in a series of meals that probably shouldn’t have worked but were yummy. Read More »
That has left me more than a little verklempt. That sort of thing isn’t why I write – I write to tell a story, and hopefully insert a few long-acting shards of thinking-cooties into people’s brains and hearts, but I never expect to get feedback on what those shards can do. So yeah, all the stress
Today I got a reader email…. Read More »
Oh hey, Monday. A Monday I actually have to think about the fact that it’ a Monday! This “days of the work week” thing is going to take some getting re-used to… Meanwhile, have I reminded you recently that CLAWED, the 4th Gin & Tonic mystery, is coming out next month? I haven’t? Well. Silly
Clawing our way into the work week… Read More »
The Plan, as I’ve been calling it, has been several years in the making, and is comprised of several phases. Phase 1: Move to the west coast. Phase 2: Take over the wine industry. Okay, so it’s wee baby steps to taking over the wine industry. But I’ve been offered a part-time job helping run
The Plan Commences (for the usual fee, plus expenses) Read More »
The CEM for SILVER ON THE ROAD has gone back to Mr. Monti​. That means…. it’s time to go back to Yet Untitled #2 for the second pass, wherein I take an ugly rough draft and turn it into something that doesn’t make me cringe. Prepare for weeping, swearing, hand-waving, and occasional impassioned headdesking…
Changing of the (Production) Guard… Read More »
THUD. Pending my secondary research backup getting back to me with feedback on the Latin, and with the knowledge that I’ll need to go over it one more time to make sure certain capitalizations and usages are consistent throughout…. Copyedits for SILVER ON THE ROAD are deflagged and done. All 452 pages of ’em. My brain
There is no such thing as a painless copyedit, only ones where you don’t mind bleeding. Read More »
and then, when it all seems lost… you just give up, give in, and start STETing the fuck out of everything.
State of the Author Dealing with Copyedit, in gifs Read More »