“That’s so cliché” “Your story is full of tropes” “It’s been done.” When I see these mindless rants masquerading as serious reviews, I promptly consider the review itself to be utterly invalid and the reviewer herself to be lazy, unoriginal and vapid. Likely in need of a breath mint. Let me explain. A “trope” has […]
So yesterday, my little book had a very big day. I was Reddit’s Writer of the Day. I set my book to free for the occasion. It’s free until midnight tonight Saturday, actually. So if you haven’t read it, go download it. Reddit Fantasy, for those of you who don’t know, is huge. There’s usually […]
On my mystical writing journey, I’m doing ok. Not fantastic. I don’t have a ton of money to throw into book promo. But respectable. I’m a prawn for all you 20booksto50k’ers out there. Hopefully I will only go further from here. One really nice surprise I got today, I’m on the front page of Lorehaven. […]
I had an author interview published today. It was with Thisiswriting.com, a writing site in Australia. I won a marketing package with them and this was part of it. I think it turned out pretty well, but you guys can go here and look. Tell me what you think!
So I’ve entered Sorrowfish into the Wishing Shelf awards. I don’t really want to enter a lot of contests, but this one seems to be well run and gives feedback, which I would like to get. The contest is author-run. To me that is important. There are reading groups who evaluate the books. While I’d […]
I spent all day reading about chivalry. I do this. When I’m writing I need to explore until I find the PERFECT THING. So today I spent all day searching for Gawain and and the Green knight and chivalry and courtly love and Trystan and Iseult. I needed to find the right test of honor. […]
I’ve been writing, but not like I wanted to. Now I’m writing full force again. My marketing is in place for the first book, I’ll let it run and keep going. If I can get book 2 finished and out, I’ll be much better off. So where am I? Good question. I have an outline […]
I was on Facebook this morning and I saw a quote by CS Lewis that struck me. It was along the lines of “You are being tested by God not because he doesn’t know the love you have in you, but so that you will know it.” I’m paraphrasing, but that was the message. And […]
UPDATE! It’s live! You can order Sorrowfish here! (ebook) Order the paperback here! Ok, so yesterday I logged in and uploaded my paperback MS and hit publish. I was going to do the same with my ebook. However, after I hit publish on the paperback book, I could not get to the ebook details. It […]
My book launches on September 3. Panic has set in. I have a small budget for my launch and I think have made the most of it. Here’s what I’ve done, so far. For posterity…and because I know others will care. I built a web site for the book, which I think turned out pretty […]
I’ve taken Mark Dawson’s class and I’m in the 20booksto50k® group on Facebook. There’s an ethos within these groups that says to rapidly release a series. Make the first book free (or possibly the first three books) Advertise. Hook your readers into reading the series. I don’t mean to grouse. But if I do that, […]
Dinosaurs are dragons. I don’t understand why this isn’t accepted fact, but it’s true. Look at them. I’m sure they even breathed fire. Until some scientist proves otherwise, I’m going with it. My husband thinks dinosaurs don’t have enough legs and wings. Fine. So wyvern. They’re still dragons. The word dinosaur wasn’t invented until 1841. […]
So, I spent all last week working on my book trailer and I think it turned out pretty well. It’s been well received so far. I did it with Adobe After Effects and a lot of work. You may view it here. Let me know what you think in the comments!
I just sent my manuscript off to LSE® for the final proof. It’s only been two years of editing. LOL. Woot. I’m done.
I’m going to St Louis this week, to Realm Makers. It’s a Christian sci-fi/fantasy writer’s conference. I’m stoked! Brent Weeks and Terry Brooks are both going to be there. Very exciting. I have no idea what to wear as a costume. They dress up for the awards banquet, apparently. Probably River Song, it’s what I […]
I was talking to Ben Lo at church this morning and he mentioned I needed to tell this story. Ok. I’ll tell it. I started thinking about writing in 1998. I was on the rocks with my husband. At that point, my life was in complete turmoil and I was trying to get it back. […]
Some of you know I’m a dev and designer. My little company is known for gamification, but today I wanted to talk about using it in my writing. Because I did. SO FUN!!!!! I have been accused of writing this whole series to create an acceptable backstory for Ingress. Sigh. Not true. But funny. Anyhow, […]
This week, Sorrowfish went on preorder finally. As an avid audiobook consumer, one of my first priorities is creating a fantastic audiobook version. Rod and I listen to books literally every night together. It’s a family tradition that began when our kids were growing up. We did the Harry Potter series. In high school, the […]
Barbara Hambly wrote the Darwath Trilogy in the early 80’s. I read the series way back then. I knew these books had influenced my own writing. The premises are similar (portal fantasy). But I was very fuzzy on the details. So I picked them up again a few weeks ago for a reread. Immediately I […]
I have a date for my book to launch! September 3, 2019. A mere 2 years and 2 months after I finished the first draft. I am consoled about my slowness by two thoughts. We are still waiting for Kingkiller 3 so I’m faster than Mr. Rothfuss. And hopefully the book two will be quicker […]
My husband and son are allergic to animals. My son was actually allergic to grass and trees and shellfish, oats, eggs, you name it. Soy. Pretty much any meat but beef. I call him my son. Technically, Zach is my stepson. But he’s mine. Mine. A little dog helped that happen. Rod and I got […]
I got my shiny new inductive study bible today. I have been using the same study bible for over 20 years and the covers had fallen off, the binding was tearing. It was time for a new one. I use the Inductive Study Bible from Precept Ministries. Back in my legalistic hellfire and damnation church […]
I have a small but loyal following here and wanted to give you guys an update. My web development company decided to try to launch 3 websites (in one week) at about the same time I’d planned to launch my book. Since we have to eat, we chose to be zen about the book launch. […]
I entered this into the Writers of the Future Contest and it received an honorable mention, which is a big, huge honor. This contest easily gets more submissions than any other contest in the world, so any kind of recognition from them is high praise. I did end up including this story in Sorrowfish, so […]
So I’ve been working on writing ten minutes a day. I’m writing book 2 and it’s really slow going. By the time my head gets into the space I need it to be in and I see the movie unroll in my mind, the ten minutes has turned into 30 minutes. And I need to […]
So I have a marketing plan. It’s basically going to revolve around getting reviews with some advertising. But first I gotta make some freebies and some lead magnets. Which is fun. I want to give people things they will really like. Mostly my freebies will be deleted scenes or outtakes or stories or what have […]
I think I mentioned the Resistance that comes when you try to create something. It’s hit me hard as I’m editing this book. Everything that could go wrong has. I talked about it in The Avalanche of Battles and Stab it with a Fork. So today I wanna talk about another thing that can come […]
So I’m in a Facebook group for indie authors. I posted the cover I’ve been working on to get feedback. I was actually on version 10 but posted version 9 by mistake. It had a couple issues but I left it, because after 18 years of design, I know you have to give groups obvious […]
We have looked at colors and their symbolism in the stages of alchemy, how these relate to story. We’ve looked at ring structure. The next thing to look at in our study of literary alchemy is duality. Duality pops up in ring structure. If you have a plot that looks like this: ABCBA or AABBBCCCCBBBAA […]
Yes I’m still here. My mom went in the hospital with a heart attack. It was a wake-up call for me in more ways than one. I spent the first week of December in the hospital with her. Then I got the flu
One Ring to rule them all…. No. Not that kind of ring. Though Tolkien did use this structure in his masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings. Ring structure or chiastic structure is a device to tell a story. An ancient device. It’s also one commonly used when applying literary alchemy, which I started to discuss […]
I’ve been assaulted lately by butterflies. I don’t mean just that I see them everywhere on my morning walks (though I do) or that they will be waiting for me in bushes and on top of my car as I walk out of meetings in the middle of the city (they are). They fly at […]
Yes, literary alchemy is something I have spent some time studying. The goal? To profoundly affect your readers by allowing them to transform vicariously along with your main characters. The model has been used for centuries. Shakespeare used it. CS Lewis used it. JK Rowling used it. Suzanne Collins used it. The writer of Breaking […]
I’ll get right to it. Tim is the real deal. I have signed up for a few paid courses, the first was Ads for Authors with Mark Dawson. I knew Tim Grahl from following the Story Grid and Stephen Pressfield. So I went to a webinar Tim offered for free. His Author 101 course is similar […]
So I have this theory. My theory is that whenever we try to change in any way for the better, we go through the stages of grief before the reformation is accomplished. I think that’s why there’s this idea of “putting to death the deeds of the flesh” in the New Testament. Certainly I’m experiencing this myself […]
I’m battling procrastination. They used to call it acedia. (You can go look it up if you need to, I’ll wait) Some describe it as sloth. Some describe it as apathy. They talk about it making you want to sleep in the middle of the day. It does do that. It also makes you want to go live on […]
I walked into an actual bookstore. An independent bookstore, yesterday. It’s one of my favorites. Carmichael’s Books in the Crescent Hill neighborhood of Louisville. And I bought a hardback volume of How to Stop Time. I haven’t bought a hardback at full price in a while. Not from a bookstore, where I’m standing at the […]
Ok so first off. My daughter did these drawings for me and she is amazing. Thank you Emily. If you need an illustrator I highly recommend her. Just comment below and I’m happy to get you in touch. The gryphon is N’khum and the gnome is Jax. The tomb is in the Angels chapter. I […]
There’s a chapter in Sorrowfish based on one of my favorite haunts. I thought I’d share photos of it today for those of you who know what I’m talking about. How could I not make this a setting? Enjoy. If you want to read, you can do so here till I’m done with my edits.
My daughter read several chapters of my book and complained loud and long. She knows I’m an advocate for lightjoy. I don’t like grimdark. But she said my book is dark, so dark. I think she’s right. It is dark in many places, many of them very unpleasant. But it made me think about what I mean by lightjoy. I’m […]
