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Recent Posts
Other Blogs Of Interest
- Author Elizabeth Bear — Hugo winner and all-around cool person
- Geek Of All Trades — A “Geek’s Eye” view of life and all things geek. Home of the “Word of the Day.”
- idisagreecompletely — Susan Lewis, blogger, writer, and fellow NaNoWriMo’er
- Interactions in Real Time –Jo Rhett, author and member of my extended critique group family, discussing writing and technology.
- Marmalade, Cat Detctive — Follow Marmalade, star of an upcoming story by my friend Maaja Wentz
- Ninth Circle Press — Snarky T-shirts, buttons, mugs / musings on creativity and humor / flash fiction / snowclones.
- Second Hand Roses — The worst–and sometimes, the best–of thrift store and yard sale finds.
Category Archives: Writing
The Good vs. The Bad; or, Why Didn’t I Have A Creative Writing Teacher Like This?
Today, author James Van Pelt* posted a blog entry on good poetry vs. bad poetry over on his LiveJournal. You should go read it. In particular, his list of characteristics of good vs. bad poetry (in the photograph of the … Continue reading
News From The Editing Front; or, What I’ve Been Up To Lately
For those of you who have been wondering what sort of progress I’ve been making on my latest (unfinished) NaNoWriMo novel, I have a confession to make: I haven’t made any actual progress at all in the last two weeks. … Continue reading
T’is The Season; or, A Short Christmas Story
Once upon a time, a couple of years ago, when I was still blogging on “The Melt-Ink Pot” (the now-defunct group blog of which I was a part), we did a story prompt. The prompt was, “Late into the night, … Continue reading
Link Salad for November
Link Salad time again! I tossed together some good stuff for y’all this month: First, from my friend Kate’s blog: Stand Up To Your Creativity. Next, from NPR, some helpful advice on How To Name Your First Novel. For those … Continue reading
Research; or, The Devil Is In The Details
Ah, research. One of my favorite things about writing a historically-based story is the fact that so much of the world-building is already done for me. After all, if for some reason, I need to know what a pocket watch … Continue reading
NaNoWriMo 2011 Wrap-up
So the madness known as NaNoWriMo is over for another year. I’m kind of sad to see it end, just when I was getting into the swing of things: spending half an hour writing every day before work, blogging about … Continue reading
NaNoWriMo: Crossing The Finish Line
Well, I’ve done it. I’ve collected 30 NaNos (1 NaNo=1,667 words) to make one NaNoWriMo (50,000 words). In fact, it’s a little more than that, and I’ll probably add more to the final word count tonight and tomorrow. But for … Continue reading
NaNoWriMo Update, Week 4
Ahh, gliding into the home stretch. I’m at over 45,000 words now, so while I haven’t exactly blown anyone’s doors off with my writing speed this month, I’m still moving forward at a reasonable pace, and, barring any disasters, should … Continue reading
Naming Issues; or Why Did You Call Me That?
As usual, as I plow through NaNoWriMo, character names are proving to be somewhat problematic. For the most part, the new characters I’ve added so far have allowed themselves to be named without too much of a fuss. One entire … Continue reading
And Now The Ball Is Rolling; or, More NaNoWriMo Progress
I just realized, going back and looking at my NaNoWriMo update from last week, that I really didn’t provide much of an update at all. So I should probably remedy that! As of this morning, I was a few hundred … Continue reading
NaNoWriMo, Week 3
This past Tuesday, I finally summoned my courage and did something I’d been wanting to do since my first NaNoWriMo back in 2006. I attended a write-in. You know how it is, the first time you venture forth to take … Continue reading
NaNoWriMo, Week 2.5
(This started out as part of last week’s entry. But then I decided that I really had two separate entries, so, Bonus! Extra Week 2.5 Entry Today!) Last time, I talked about potential excuses for why writing wasn’t happening. Let’s … Continue reading
Link Salad for October, 2011 (Better Late Than Never!)
Just realized that I never got around to posting my “link salad” for October. So here’s what I found: Ten Reasons Not To Write Your Novel How to be Miserable as an Artist (oops–link now repaired!) What To Do When … Continue reading
NaNoWriMo, Week 2
It’s Week Two of that insanity known as National Novel Writing Month. (Wow, it looks weird to type it all out that way, instead of NaNoWriMo.) This time last year, I was singing the Week 2 Blues. Which is not … Continue reading
And The Magic Happens; or, Add New Characters And Stir
Toiling away on my latest NaNoWriMo endeavor, I was beginning to despair. There was an awful lot of recap happening, and not much in the way of new development. And then…I introduced some new characters. Joshua Newton’s entire family full … Continue reading
Timing Is Everything; or, I Thought I Was A Night Person…
I think I’ve learned something about how I NaNo best. Last night, after a long and fairly eventful day, I came home and parked myself in front of my computer at around 10:00 pm, with every intention of squeezing out … Continue reading
NaNoWriMo, Week 1
Well, here we are in November, which means it’s now NaNoWriMo. I’m plugging away on my novel, staying on pace, but not building up much of a cushion. Part of my problem is that I haven’t been able to get … Continue reading
It’s Almost Here; or One Day Left Until NaNoWriMo
(Post-A-Day Challenge, Day 30) So earlier in the month, I posted a list of tasks I hoped to accomplish before this year’s NaNoWriMo begins on November 1. Let’s see how I did: 1) Installing New Keyboard. Status: WIN! Got that … Continue reading
Getting To Know You; or, An Interview With Your Character
(Post-a-Day Challenge, day 29) One of the ways you can get to know your characters a little better is by conducting an interview with them. Asking them the right kinds of questions can reveal things about them that you might … Continue reading
Retail Therapy; or Shopping For A Creative Spark
(Post-A-Day Challenge, Day 27) [Almost there...stay on target....] This evening, my friend Rivka and I decided to go out and engage in a little low-budget retail therapy. We headed over to the ARC thrift store. I love shopping at thrift … Continue reading
