I have been on a quest lately to make the ordinary special. Boxed brownies, when you make them with coffee instead of water? and butter. Not oil. You take them out 5 minutes before the box says to, and let them sit out for those 5 minutes. They keep cooking. I have added chocolate chips […]
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 […]
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 […]
Some of you know I’m working with Long-Suffering Editrix® twice a week. Cheryl is a mentor, a coach, a cheerleader, sometimes a mommy and a kick-ass editor. I’m very thankful to have her in my corner. Even when she makes me think too much. Which is often. For instance, my homework this week is to outline […]
Resource So if you want to get your feet wet in publishing, a cool resource is here. You’ll find places to submit your short stories and some good contests. The list is geared toward SFF authors. I’m going to be working on eight short stories for contests and such, not sure if I’ll submit them. […]
So. Working through my story grid worksheets and various and sundry other editing helps. The videos from the Writing Excuses guru Dan Wells were on my menu this week. I started to watch them months ago and got sidetracked. So this week they got cast to the big screen and dissected with the Man, my […]
You might hear me quote Stephen Pressfield a lot. It’s his fault I’m writing fiction. He’s become something of a virtual mentor to me. Certainly The War of Art and Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t should be required reading for any aspiring author/poet/dancer/artist/musician/entrepreneur. If you’re creating, they will save you much heartbreak. Stephen has […]
I’m going to show what I’m doing in my revision process because I think it will be helpful and it will serve as a reference for when I forget what I’m doing. I’m using Revising Your Novel, First Draft to Finished Draft by Janice Hardy. NOTICE: This is NOT The first chapter in the book. […]
Ok so I’m reading out loud to edit Sorrowfish and I’m recording it. I wanted to show you guys what I’m doing in case anyone wants to do the same. I’m using a Mac mini and an ipad for this and am making mp3s.You don’t actually have to make mp3s at all, I’m just making […]
Editing is where books go to die. A new acquaintance on Twitter said this to me. He’s right, and I didn’t laugh. I winced. I’ve had insanity hit me these last weeks with my business and my family. It’s been unbelievable, with my stress levels completely maxed. It’s making it hard to edit, especially when […]
