I’m writing this on November 29th, two days before the official end of this year’s NaNoWriMo writing marathon. And even though the month isn’t over, I can do a wrap-up post because I ‘won’ by hitting 50,000 words on November 20th. That’s the earliest I’ve ever won this challenge. I’ve got over 73 thousand words…
The first week isn’t even over and I can already report that this is more of a challenge than the last few have been. Not that I don’t have the time to write. And I’m making my word count quota every day. The challenge is in the content. And the approach. The topic is dating…
Here we are again in mid October with another NaNoWriMo rushing toward us. Last November, I started my Haunted Amusement Park story. I’ve been working on it since then and the story has gotten stronger, the characters and their motivations have gotten deeper and my sense of confidence about how it will be as a…
To view the recorded livestream of the reading/preview of the CC Vol 8 anthology. (this is a link to a Facebook page). Remember the story about the little kid playing in the sandbox? Well, I created a full short story based on that and submitted it to Creative Colloquy for their anthology Volume 8 and…
The world has not stopped going to shit. People have not stopped being mean to other people. Life has not magically become simpler and more manageable. And still, I need to write. I have projects, I have deadlines, I have goals and a vision of the future. There are days when my belief in that…
What if there was an alien language that humans felt in their bodies more than in their ear drums? And what if those feelings and interpretations were uncomfortable to humans? That’s what I’m playing with in my newest short story. This is one I’ve shared part of before, the one with the murderous toddler. I…
Tonight, I attended another of the excellent writer’s workshops put on by Creative Colloquy. The topic was to emphasize the role of observation in our work as writers. Tiffany Aldrich MacBain led us through examples and exercises. We used a guide she’d given us in collecting information based on observation and then spun a scene…
This is day 17 and the minimum target for today is 28,339 words. My word count today is 35,198. At this rate, I’ll hit 50k on November 24th, 6 days ahead of schedule. The key this year has been the pre-planning. I’ve always been a pantser for this event and now I can understand why…
(Update: was told by the editors that the publish date might get pushed because of a paper shortage… but definitely this spring.) It’s available on Amazon for pre-order. Publish date is April 9, 2019. It’s been nearly 5 years since I first started working on my contribution for this… well, most of that time was…
In the spirit of full disclosure, I have a crush on the author of Autonomous, Annalee Newitz. It’s a nerdy crush full of admiration for Newitz’s humor, intelligence and artistic talent. And if that isn’t enough, she’s queer, which is a total bonus on my score sheet. My crush began when I became a devoted…