Category Archives: Thoughts about Writing

Sampler Platter

Just a few small points to start the week: Today, I sent off the revised version of The Project That Must Not Be Named. Hurray! I hope to have author’s Copies of Copper Road by next week… plus a few … Continue reading

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The Case of the Stand-in Horse

As a writer I owe one important “aha” moment to that Master of Horror, Stephen King, and the character of Dick Hallorann in The Shining. (Before anyone starts up about “spoilers,” the book came out in 1977, you all.) In … Continue reading

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Wardrobe in Worldbuilding

One of my favorite new books is M.A. Carrick’s The Mask of Mirrors, a second-world fantasy. “M.A. Carrick” is the pseudonym of two well-established fantasists, Marie Brennan and Alyc Helms. I loved this book for lots of reasons, and one … Continue reading

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Book Three. First Draft. Done

It’s not only waaaay too long, it’s waaaay too long and rambly! Characters behave inconsistently and while I’ve got all the elements in there and most of the beats are right, the climax seems rushed. And I don’t care. None … Continue reading

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Checking In

I was slightly relieved to see that it hasn’t been a full month since I blogged. It’s just been close. There have been a few distractions around my place, mostly good, but not all. I managed to go up the … Continue reading

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The Dragon Awards

The Dragon Awards, for excellence is speculative fiction, were awarded over Labor Day weekend. Depending on your point of view, you might say there were no surprises, or the results were a stunning surprise. Here are the various Best Novel … Continue reading

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Dragons and Hugos

(This is a snarky, opinionated post. I’m entitled to those once in a while.) The Hugo awards, recognizing excellence in speculative fiction, were first awarded in 1953, according to the Hugo website. The first Hugos were presented at WorldCon in … Continue reading

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Copy Edits Done

Today I sent back the Copper Road manuscript with the copy edits made. My copyeditor turned the document around pretty fast, I thought. All in all, this process is much faster than “Aluminum Leaves.” There was a several-month gap between … Continue reading

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The Worldbuilding Bible

My Copper Road editor asked me to send in a worldbuilding bible along with the manuscript. To me, “bibles” were for TV writing rooms and shared universe series or anthologies; basically places where the writing is collective and certain conventions … Continue reading

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Briarpatch From Page to Screen

Ross Thomas published his southwestern detective novel Briarpatch in 1984. His protagonist, Benjamin “Pickle” Dill (kids stopped calling him “Pickle” in the 4th grade after he beat up a bunch of them) returns to his New Mexico hometown to investigate … Continue reading

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