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Work, Write: How to Nurture Your Writing and Still Get a Paycheck
Working is a reality in my life, and it will be for a very long time. I mean the 9-5 variety, specifically. There’s plenty of other work, too. But that’s the work that takes up the big bulk of my time and my brain. I’ve been working full time and writing for a long while, now. Before it was a traditional job, it was working retail and going to graduate school. Then it was freelancing and raising a baby. But regardless of what the job title was, the work was there. But so was the writing. I’ve written before about how you’ve got to change your process sometimes to make things…
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An Image Post
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October and Pomegranates
I am thinking of my dear Aunt C a great deal today. I wrote two poems about the pomegranates that grow at her house, and I'm sharing them while I ruminate on the beauty, and darkness, that we find in October, that most brilliant of months.
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Writing with Outlines and Making Room for Unexpected Monsters
Glassmere marks my second real foray into a planned novel. The outline isn’t terribly strict, and it’s always changing and morphing. But it’s like this bright backbone I’m building around. For a seasoned pantser, this is a huge departure. What I like most about the outline, though, is that it’s not as rigid as I thought it’d be. Sure, there are some writers who do a far more strict version than I do, where every scene and beat is painstakingly draw out in detail. Others use a detailed synopsis. Just different strokes, y’know? But for me, having this backbone means that, even in times of crunch (which, let’s be honest,…
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Moving My Brain and My Stories, Too
Now that the office is finally set up in the new house, writing has begun again on Glassmere. Frustrating to take a break from something I’m enjoying so much, but there’re lessons to be learned there, too. The older I get, the more I realize that writing is… well, it’s about the writing. The other extraneous chaff is part of it (the publishing, reception, etc.) — but on the most simple level, the most selfish level, I suppose, there is just the writing. And me. And I need it, and it makes me who I am. And I’m getting better at it every time I sit down to write because that’s…
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Do You Want to be my Alpha Reader?
If you follow me on social media, or anywhere really, you’ll note that I’m currently writing a magical realism novel called Glassmere. The elevator pitch is that it’s Downton Abbey meets Narnia. It’s set in the spring and summer 1914, and is the story of two generations of sisters (Eleanor and Julia who are in their late teens, and Alice and Lucy who are in their late seventies) and their connection to a place called the Other Country. If you want an aesthetic feel, my Pinterest board on the subject is quite comprehensive. Typically when I’m writing it’s behind very closed doors. Once the whole thing is written, taken apart, put…
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Eating Authors over at Lawrence M. Shoen’s Blog
With a whirlwind trip to California (that included the worst airline experience to date, thanks United Airlines!) and the snowpocalypse in NC, I totally forgot to share this bit! I met Lawrence at Illogicon last year, and through the magic of Tsu (really, this isn’t a joke) he asked me to write for his blog series Eating Authors. Pretty much up my alley, as you might expect. (And oh yeah, you might have noticed Mr. Shoen was just nominated for a Nebula. Pretty darn sweet! Also thrilled to see Jeff Vandermeer’s Annihilation up, as well, one of the best books I’ve read in… um, a long, long time.) I talk about my…
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Two feet forward & re-processing writing process
Timehop is a fabulous app. It’s really built on one hook: you want to see what you were up to in the past. So every morning, I open my app up and get windows into what I was doing one, two, three years ago. You get the drift. It’s often awash with cute pictures of my kids, plates of food, and lots of updates on writing. This morning marked a year to the date I finished Watcher of the Skies. After starting a new job and having a very tumultuous year with our son (we were in the process of getting his IEP, I believe) the accomplishment was huge. To date,…
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On Achieving Writing Distance
Ever since I read Stephen King’s On Writing twelve years ago, I’ve been acutely aware of my biggest fault as a writer: my inability to achieve distance from my own writing. King talks about finishing a manuscript and then putting it away for a few weeks, letting it mellow a bit, in order to return to it with fresh eyes. But fresh eyes, man. That’s the rub right there. I have written many novels. And I have edited them, too. But when it comes to actually being able to see beyond my work in progress, to be able to step away far enough that it no longer feels familiar… that’s been a…
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On “failing” NaNoWriMo 2014
So even though I haven’t been posting here as much as I ought, I did post a series of meanderings over at Writer’s Digest over the NaNoWriMo insanity. The last post I somehow missed, but it’s live right here. You can click through all the other bits I shared from that final post, but I wanted to share the post here because it’s important. So, read away, losers. — So here’s the thing. If you’re being technical, Jonathan and I didn’t win NaNoWriMo. Neither of us hit 50,000 words. But I’m not upset in the least. Why? Because NaNoWriMo isn’t just about “winning” really. Sure, you get a nice little badge…
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Introducing Two Brain Space
So, in what’s probably not a surprise, I’m going to be doing NaNoWriMo again this year. I’m in an even-year pattern, as it goes. But what is a surprise is that I’m doing it with Jonathan Wood, my good friend and fellow writer. It’s, in a word, spiderpunk. If you want to follow what we’re doing, head on over to the new blog.
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Winner of the Flashy Things and Other Updates
Leave it to me to spend a week overhauling my entire website, and then stop posting. It’s been a busy few months, and after February’s Pilgrim of the Sky marathon, I took a bit of a break (and I’d like to think deservedly so). But I haven’t been absent from writing entirely! I’ve been thinking a good deal about a book called Bone Dust, and wrote about it rather extensively over at GeekMom. Then there was a thing! A thing I won! With words! My lovely friend Jaym Gates roped me in to this flash fiction contest, and somehow I managed to edge out some pretty amazing writers and get crowned…
