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Where Hath April Fled?
April has a certain literary weight to it, doesn’t it? Regardless of what Chaucer or Eliot thought, one thing is clear: April has come and gone too fast for my liking. This in-between month has lived up to its reputation here in North Carolina, however, and we’ve had lots of rain and a very cool spring. The skies finally cleared today and it’s been a bright afternoon, crisp and blue-skied, with the promise of more to come. My first cosmo bloomed. I’ve been cataloguing wildflowers in the forest. Writing has been going well. A few weeks ago I finished the first draft of Glassmere. For those who might not remember, it’s…
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2017 Publications!
2017 was a pretty big year around these parts. I saw the publication of two novellas and two short stories — all of which I hold quite dear. First, there came Wothwood, a heroic fantasy novella (yes, you read that right… it’s short and it’s fantasy) about the “wood where the world is broken.” While there’s a good deal of action and adventure, it’s at its heart about inheritance and revenge, and who you decide to be as a hero. I anticipate a sequel to this, but it may be a bit longer than a novella. I’m also planning on Aoda’s further adventures. Then came “Two Moons and Red Bread” which…
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The Wothwood Book Trailer is Here
I’m very excited to share the book trailer for Wothwood. It’s definitely a challenge to boil down the book in a short story, but I’m hoping to at least pique a little bit of interest. What to expect? Heroes, battles, revenge, strange lands and strange people. What might be unexpected? The monsters are beyond your garden variety fantasy. I joke, but it’s true: I’m allergic to dwarves and elves and orcs, so you won’t be seeing any of that sort of thing. You will also have a narrative dominated by two women. There’s a lot this novel has to say about masculinity in fantasy, but I’ll leave that to another post…
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Falling in love with the novella, and thoughts on story structure
Ever since I first put pen to paper, I’ve thought in novels. I never set out to write short stories. No, from the get-go, I wanted to produce mighty, expansive, world-sweeping novels. And for the majority of the last ten years, what you might consider my professional publishing career, novels have made up the bulk of my work, at least in term of time investment. The process has changed considerably, because my life has changed considerably. For the most I think I’ve figured it out. I thought I’d cracked the nut of novel production, and though it takes more time than it used to, the end product is considerably stronger. Then I…
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Introducing Wothwood, a Broken Cities Novella
I’m sick as a dog here, but a little good news goes a long way. Last summer, I was busy at work writing Wothwood, a weird fantasy novella for Falstaff Books. The idea came about in conversation with two members of my writing group (and dear friends) Jaym Gates and Michelle Muenzler. What about a shared world novella series? We liked the idea of “broken cities” — abandoned, forgotten, sundered cities — with a good dash of the Weird thrown in. Wothwood is the product of that idea. Michelle’s novella, The Hills of Meat, the Forest of Bone, just released last week. And while, on first glance, you’d think these novels couldn’t possibly…
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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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Behold! The Book Trailer for Pilgrim of the Sky (and Audio Coming Soon!)
I’d wanted to do a book trailer for Pilgrim for quite some time, but when the book came out I was pregnant and a total mess. Personal life aside, it may be a few years after the fact but hey! It’s still my book. I’m still totally proud of it. And I have this live reading I’m doing, so it’s still good timing. I had a blast putting it together, and the fact that I was able to incorporate Brigid’s amazing artwork and my sister’s phenomenal music… even better. And don’t forget, you can catch the whole playlist, too. That’s five chapters! Keep an eye out for the audio files, too! For…
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How Pinterest and Process Saved My Novel (And Can Save Yours, Too)
Writing a book, as the old adage goes, isn’t the hard part. I mean, yeah, it’s hard. It’s a butt-ton of work. For me, writing books isn’t the hard part. It’s something I do, more or less, whether or not I want to. But while the writing part isn’t exactly a mystery to me, there have been some real challenges over the past few years that have challenged everything I thought about writing. First thing? In 2008/2009, I was learning to write novels. Like, write them and finish them. I wrote a lot between 08-10, until my hands gave out. Yup, literally my hands stopped allowing me to write, and…
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Exploring the Edges: Writing Outside the Boundaries
Write what you know may be the most hackneyed advice out there. And, well, it really isn’t that well informed. Yes, writing the things you know about–especially when you’re starting out–are safe bets. Keeping to the zone of your knowledge means that you’ll likely not be called out as a fraud and that you’ll keep going because, well, you already know about it. And as writers we have a tendency to cluster around the things that inform our existence. It’s why I wrote about New England in the beginning of Pilgrim of the Sky, even though I haven’t lived there in over a decade. It was part of my own origin…
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Why I Don’t Give Writing Advice
Maybe I'm not the right person for this job.
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The GeekMom Book is Here (And Available for Preorder)
I got a very nice package in the mail today containing one copy of the finished book I worked on with Jenny Williams, Corrina Lawson, and Kathy Ceceri — Geek Mom: Projects, Tips, and Adventures for Moms and Their 21st Century Families. It was a labor of love that started more than two years ago, even before GeekMom.com existed. We’re really excited to share the geeky side of being a mom with the world. If you’re so inclined, you can preorder the book on Amazon, or wherever you so desire. From a writer’s perspective, I do plan one day to write about the million differences between writing and publishing non-fiction,…
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In the trenches between pain and progress.
So. This is me trying out the new dictation for Mountain Lion. Why am I dictating? That’s a good question. You see, I had a lot of fun in prose. Too much fun. It’s definitely a mixed bag. I’m really excited to be writing again, but it’s been difficult. Just when I started getting in the groove my hands gave out. Thankfully there is such a thing as dictation software. But it’s far from perfect. It isn’t so bad that writing has come to a complete stop, but it’s enough that when it comes to things like blog posts, I figure it’s probably worth it to save the fingers (and…
