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What the heck am I doing?
The answer is writing. Writing and writing, and podcasting a little. In spite of the failure of last week, which isn’t really a failure at all but a disappointment, I’ve been busy putting the oldest story I think is worth telling back in order. It’s a bit like turning a 50-piece puzzle into a 1,000 piece puzzle. The picture is…
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Novelfail: Facing rejection with grace (or learning to)
I’ve had short stories rejected before, and I like to think I’m pretty good at dealing with it. At least, it’s enough to piss me off a while, but not enough to throw me into the pit and give up writing. The story selection process is extremely subjective, and I can deal with that. I just keep writing. However, yesterday,…
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Thursday poetry, 5/7 “Delight and the Word”
To keep my brain nimble and, um, creative, I’ve decided to start a Thursday poetry tradition here. I can’t promise the poetry will be awesome, or inspiring, or even good. But once upon a time I fancied myself a bit of a bard. So, here goes. Delight and the Word Delight and the Word met in a fever dance under…
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Textual nightmares: or, some ways you can not suck at editing by learning from my mistakes
Writing novels is not my problem. My output has only improved in the last few years, and I’ve finally moved beyond the whining about not having time, or making every excuse in the world not to write stage. Those were big hurdles for me, and I’m proud of the accomplishment. I generally make my 1K goal every day, with a…
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GeekDad: Top 10 Geeky Instruments
By way of a wee announcement, my first post is live over at the GeekDad blog. So, even though I’m not a dad, I am a geek… so I’m a GeekMom! I’m really excited to be part of this deliciously geeky group of guys and gals! I know it says it’s by Michael Harrison, but that’ll soon change. Top 10…
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A note on giving up.
It’s okay. Really it is. Set it aside, take a walk. Go somewhere new; get a cup of coffee. Do some yoga, or scream a little. Writing can be such a pain in the ass, you deserve to take give up for a little while. Or a month. Or a year. Or a few years. Writing, if anything, is a…
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I can hear the voice inside my head–saying you should be with me instead.
Me: Will you guys shut up, please? I’m trying to wake up here. Peter: But you just had a huge revelation about me, and you’re honestly thinking of working on that short story about grubby worm spider things in a Victorian garden? Spindly Grubbings: *intelligible chittering* Me: Yes, Peter. I am thinking about that. Doesn’t mean I have committed to…
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My path to girl geekdom.
Yellow, not pink. Shel Silverstein, not Mother Goose. Dad on guitar, not songs on tape. Unicorns, not horses. Galaga, not Ga-Ga dolls. Muppets, not puppets. TMBG, not DMB. Fraggles, not ruffles. Wrinkles in Time, not Babysitter Clubs. Crusher, not crushes (but: crushes on Crusher) Ant farms, not petting zoos. Home-made, not Little Debbie. Poe, not a poser. Science, not social,…
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Dreams and revelations.
I have written lots of stuff over the years, but my problem is always finalization, finishing. The first finished novel I ever wrote is a prequel, of sorts, to The Aldersgate, occurring in the same world but some 400 years before. It’s called Peter of Windbourne, and it has been sitting in stasis for… oh, three years or so. First…
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All the world’s your stage: the performativity of online presence
My freshman year of college, I discovered MUSHing, specifically Elendor, the Tolkien-based MUSH. Besides being a hole for creativity (well, who needs to write anything original when you’re in a world as detailed as that one…) it was my first real exposure to an online community. And it’s there that I discovered the vast difference between real and perceived personalities…
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Embracing my inner dragon… early fantasy writing.
Most of my college years were spent trying to be a “real” fiction writer. That is, writing crappy short stories and outlining (okay, thinking about) crappy novels in the real world, with real problems, and real issues. While I would say it was wasted time, I don’t think that’s the case entirely. I mean, all writers have to grow, right?…
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The mask and the mirror: Otherness and fantasy literature
Take some elves, dragons, dwarves, hobgoblins, orcs, fairies, gnomes… (ad nauseum; lather, rinse, repeat) and add a protagonist, a wizard, and a magic weapon then voila: you have a fantasy novel. Other races, other peoples–especially those living in other worlds–typify, for many readers anyway, the very heart of fantasy literature. We want maps, cultures, civilizations, religions, and the oh-so-obvious dichotomies…