Well, that was special. I just saw someone on Facebook, who probably thinks of themselves as a perfectly decent and good Christian, dismiss all of Judaism, Islam, and Hinduism, among others, as ‘just tribal laws.’ Honey, it’s ALL just ‘tribal laws.’ You’re just prioritizing your tribe over everyone else’s, and the name for that ain’t […]
As we used to say on Livejournal, 3 things makes a post. Read More »
Me, listening to my iPod on the way to the side gig: “…Now I been out in the desert, just doin’ my time Searchin’ through the dust, lookin’ for a sign If there’s a light up ahead well brother I don’t know But I got this fever burnin’ in my soul So let’s take the
That’s actually pretty much how it goes… Read More »
On Monday I realized I’d written myself down the wrong path. Not far, maybe a thousands words or so, but I was coming off the high of an amazing scene, and I let the lizard brain jump to the next amazing thing and it wasn’t until several pages later that I thought – no. This
How it goes (how it rolls) Read More »
After spending a year creating a new world and new characters for SILVER ON THE ROAD, returning to Sylvan investigations, and the world of the Cosa Nostradamus is kind of… interesting, in a shake-up-the-brain way. Because none of you have met Isobel, Matthew or Farron yet. None of you have encountered the boss, or Calls
The book I’m working on now is studded with small details – things that may or may not reflect back into the reader, and will probably be overlooked or ignored by most, but were, yes, placed there deliberately, the way a garden architect chooses what trellis to climb each rose on. I do this sort
Writerbrain and writer-recommendations Read More »
When I first started out in this biz, I heard a lot of writers talking about “casting” their books, and researching for visuals (typically actors, but not always) as part of their research prep. And this struck me as strange (then again, I don’t create playlists for projects, either. Â So I may be an outlier.)
On “casting” while you write. Or not. Read More »
So, this is very cool, simply for what it is. Â But it’s also neat to look at the difference in stance-choices, and what they say about each interpretation of the same character, both from a timeframe perspective, and the actor himself. Personally, the only one I ‘believe’ is shooting, rather than posing, is Craig. Â His
Bond, James Bond. All the Bond. (no, really, this is work-related!) Read More »
Yesterday, someone asked me what the on-spec manuscript I’ve been working on, was. My answer: a story. No, they said, what kind of story? With words, and characters, and Stuff Happening and their world changing, even if The World doesn’t change for them. But what genre? they insisted. Is it fantasy? SF? YA? Mainstream? Is
Don’t Know, Can’t Care Read More »
Sometimes, you sort of muddle along and figure out a character as you go.  And sometimes, it hits you like a clue-by-four, right between the eyes. Working on [project name redacted] yesterday, I took a Tumblr break to rest my brain, and was handed the visual* that will be [character name redacted] for my entire damned life.
“How do I do this? How do YOU do this? How does it get done, this book-writing, storytelling thing? I keep starting and stopping, getting distracted, getting bored, getting broken…. what’s the secret?” The following paragraph has long resided in the sidebar of my Livejournal blog. Some days (weeks, months, years) it’s useful to shake
A Reminder (for you, and for them, and for me) Read More »