Category Archives: Thoughts about Writing

Cover me! I’m Goin’ In!

Posted on June 26, 2018 by Marion

I’m starting to query agents. Of course, we all know that I shouldn’t have to search for agents. They should be flocking to me. In a just world, they’d be filling up my email, bringing me coffee drinks and flowers, … Continue reading →

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I Met my Deadline

Posted on June 8, 2018 by Marion

This morning around 8:30 I emailed off a 36,000 word novella to my editor. It’s a piece I have a contract for with Falstaff Books. I delivered it on the deadline. Now we’ll have to see if Jaym Gates, who … Continue reading →

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Disks of Gold and Glass (The Writers of the Future Contest)

Posted on April 16, 2018 by Marion

There’s been a discussion/debate on Twitter in the past few days about the Writers of the Future contest and workshop. The Writers of the Future (WOTF) contest and workshop has been around since the 1980s. I decided early on that … Continue reading →

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Like a Midnight Hike

Posted on April 10, 2018 by Marion

I’m looking at a small press contract, thirteen pages long. It’s a standard contract for the industry, but I have a few questions. It’s for a piece of fiction I haven’t finished yet. I was offered the contract based on … Continue reading →

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Dive Into Wroldbuilding

Posted on March 26, 2018 by Marion

Tomorrow, March 27, at 4:00 pm Pacific time I will be a guest on Juliette Wade’s Dive Into Worldbuilding program, available via blogspot. Here’s a link, where you can see some previous  episodes. Juliette is an anthropologist, a linguist and … Continue reading →

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Magic; Who Gets to Wield It?

Posted on March 11, 2018 by Marion

Magic can stand in for a lot of things. It can symbolize trickery and deceit. It can represent art, healing, spectacle; it can be about loss, sacrifice, family and love. In epic fantasy, nearly always, the question about who has … Continue reading →

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Running in Slow Motion; A Writing Exercise.

Posted on March 7, 2018 by Marion

My husband and I have this thing we do sometimes where we run toward each other in fake slow motion* –true, silly, very, very dreadfully silly we have been and are, but why will you say that this is bad? … Continue reading →

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Magical Systems

Posted on March 4, 2018 by Marion

I had a great conversation with Brandy this week about magical systems. It got me thinking. I’ve loved fantasy since I can remember. I loved fairy tales as a child, particularly ones where girls went alone into a dark wood … Continue reading →

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The Hugos: Let’s Get Ready to Nominate!

Posted on February 13, 2018 by Marion

It’s award season! Currently, the Hugo committee is accepting nominations, from eligible voters, for the finalist list of the 2018 Hugos. I’m an eligible voter. The Hugos are complicated! Seriously, there is a voting system that employs ranking rather than … Continue reading →

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Ursula Le Guin: Be Always Coming Home

Posted on January 30, 2018 by Marion

Ursula Le Guin published Always Coming Home in 1980. It was, from an experimental writer and a leading voice in speculative fiction and feminism, an experiment. It was Le Guin, the “anthropologist’s daughter” (as she sometimes named herself) playing with … Continue reading →

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