This is a very belated post, but pretend I posted this a month ago for the calendar year 2015. Books Published: 8 (4 in 2015 – The Dragon’s Tongue (novel), A Fairy King and A Fairy Promise (novellas), and Heroes and Other Stories (a print edition of Heroes, Street Fox, and Color, which were all previously published))Books in Progress: 2 (Book 3 in A Long-Forgotten Song (tentatively titled The Beginning of Wisdom), and Book 4, as yet untitled) Books Backburnered: 2 (Erdemen Honor 4, as yet untitled, plus a new standalone) Short Stories Published: 4 (none in 2015) Short Stories in Progress: 2 Blog […]
On Writing and Publishing
63 posts
I was recently asked to describe my writing process for novels and series. Hm. That’s a hard one. Every book has been different. Every series is different. This isn’t a post about how you should write your books and your series. This is about what I’ve done so far and how it has worked, as well as what I’m going to try to do next. The Short Version: Erdemen Honor evolved as a standalone, then a sequel, then a third book in the series. Each is a complete, self-contained story that builds on the previous books. A Long-Forgotten Song was a series from […]
This post is a long-overdue review of the Occoquan Arts and Crafts Show. I had a table at the show back at the beginning of October. I had a fabulous time, but not without one significant downside. Downside: Logistics The organizer, who was otherwise fantabulous, had an email glitch that affected several vendors, including me. This meant we didn’t get the emails with the vendor setup times, when the streets would be closed to the cars, etc. She was flagged as a spammer because she sent so many emails, so her emails didn’t get through but she didn’t get the error messages. This […]
Like many authors, I like to dream of my books being made into movies. Good ones, of course, with huge budgets so that all the props are meticulously detailed and the actors are perfect and the musical score is magnificent and original and awe-inspiring. My hypothetical movies will be like the Lord of the Rings movies (except without the tiny changes that are oh-so-important to Tolkien purists like me), so that the soul of the books and the characters is laid bare, brought to life for viewers who haven’t yet discovered the books themselves. So… who do I imagine playing my characters? […]
I occasionally post on Quora.com, a question and answer site. Recently someone asked why Labyrinth is so great. You might already know that I love Labyrinth. But let me tell you more, because this movie is dismissed far more quickly than it deserves. Someone else had already given a short answer that mentioned the fantastic story and David Bowie, but I will go deeper. I don’t like the sequel manga and I think it derailed some of the fantastic symbolism, so my answer below is going to pretend it doesn’t exist. In my mind and in my answer, I’m treating the movie completely as a […]
Bear with me. This is a post about me being dense and finally realizing what to do about it. It’s also a post about money and about stress and about “finding balance” (whatever that means) and about blessing others. And letting myself be blessed. And not feeling like I have to constantly prove something to the world. Confession: I am always stressed. I have a wonderful life. I am a stay-at-home mom to two brilliant, adorable, sweet, well-behaved children. I have a husband who is the love of my life, selfless and brilliant and a total hottie. I have wonderful friends […]
A sweet friend on Google+ recently wrote this blog post: Why I’m Scared to be a Mom and an Entrepreneur. If you are a working mom, or a self-employed mom, or a creative mom, or probably any mom at all, parts of that will resonate with you. I wrote my first two books (The King’s Sword and A Cold Wind) before CutiePants was born, but I published them after she was born. I didn’t think of myself as an “AUTHOR” yet, with capital letters and everything. I was just someone who wrote a book or two. That’s actually still how […]
I have Google Alerts set up to notify me when my name or one of my book titles comes up online. Mostly I do this so I can see if/when book bloggers post about my book – I don’t stalk bloggers or anything (that’s not cool), but I have offered free review copies of other books to bloggers because of reviews they’ve written. If they “get” what I’m trying to do with my books, and they enjoy them, I’m happy to provide review copies. They get free books, I get good reviews from unbiased readers, and we’re all happy. However, […]
As I’ve mentioned, The King’s Sword is currently in an indie fantasy StoryBundle! If you haven’t read it, or even if you have, the bundle is a great way to get a copy of The King’s Sword as well as seven other fantastic books by indie authors. I’m thrilled to be included in such talented company. One of my fellow authors, Francesca Forrest, wrote a captivating book called Pen Pal. Blair MacGregor, the bundle curator, writes: From the first lines of Pen Pal, I was utterly charmed by the voice, the setting, the character, and the message-in-a-bottle premise. But the captivating whimsy […]
Here’s a bit of what I’ve been reading recently: Cruxim – Karin Cox – I got this free on Amazon; I’m not sure if it’s permafree or just a temporary sale. I wasn’t sure what to expect – I don’t read a lot of paranormal fantasy, but I did like that the cover didn’t scream cheesy vampire romance. it’s a particularly lovely cover, I think, especially for having the overdone man-with-wings as the main figure. It’s ranked on Amazon as a gothic romance, and there was romance, but there was plenty of other action too. I thought of it more as […]