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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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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…
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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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Watcher of the Skies: Drafted!
It’s been a while since I was able to make such an announcement–but lo! I have completed another novel. This time, it’s the follow-up (I won’t say sequel, because it’s part prequel/part standalone) to Pilgrim of the Sky. While it took much longer than anticipated, mostly due to the ungodly amount of research that was involved, I’m happy to report that I’m quite pleased with the product. It’s a more solid draft than I usually write (see: time to write) and plot-wise it’s a lot more dense. (Even Michael, who’s a surprisingly insightful and critical reader felt the same way.) How am I going to pitch this to you? It’s sort of……
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A note of appreciation to Mssr. Samuel Montgomery-Blinn
The first time I met Sam Montgomery-Blinn in person, it was 2009, and he got me very, very drunk on Fat Tire beer. Not my usual fare, but he was buying. I was nervous as hell after my first public reading, so not really arguing. I’m still not sure how I got invited to the reading that night (it included actual writers like Mur Lafferty and Jeff VanderMeer) being in such an nascent state in my writing career, but I’m pretty sure it had to do with Sam. They wanted someone else local, I suppose, so I packed up my favorite shoes and read from the novel I had been…
