It’s been more than a week and I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I finished an actual draft of a book. 70,000+ words — some of them well written, and some thrown blindly at the page in hopes that the round 2 edit can actually make this into something good …
Summer to me means the rubbery taste of hot dogs, the whir of room fans, the smell of cut grass and gasoline…and the chaos of our annual HOA garage sale. I live in a house that’s part of a Home Owner’s Association, and have been on the board and on the social committee. Back in …
Salem Reads is an annual event (this is the third year) coordinated by the Salem, Oregon library. The Salem Public Library Foundation selection committee picks a book for each year, and creates a series of events around the book’s subject matter. This year the book was “Good Morning, Midnight” by Lily Brooks-Dalton. Events included talks …
If you keep up with Writer Twitter (the area of twitter posts dominated by #amwriting and similar hashtags) you know about the latest upset about a Kindle author who plagiarized a whole group of romance writers, and used ghost writers to whack the stolen passages into a single (bad) book. Or more than one book, …
I finally read the books I got for Christmas. I meant to read them in January, but the cold that I caught in October came back again in January, so I saved the books for when I felt better. Here are the xmas books: Hazard, by Devon Monk. So cute and fun…who knew I’d like …
There’s a February challenge over on Twitter that I’m going to try to do. And I may just try to post here as well (depending on time constraints). It’s called the Author Life Month. I’m not getting writing done (at all) so I’m going to see if this inspires me.
I downloaded the ebook “The Only Harmless Great Thing” by Brooke Bolander today, and can’t stop thinking about how beautiful the writing is. The story is both painful and beautiful, but the magic is in how Bolander creates a history and an alternate reality that feels as real as my desk chair. I want to learn …
You can find inspiration in the ordinary, and in the unusual. Neither are better for inspiration as long as you get as much out of each as you can. I got home from my very first cruise on Monday night, and am still doing laundry and putting travel gear away. And reading through the …
I’m getting my ribbons, scissors, and glue packed up for the Make-N-Take at the Oregon State Fair. On Friday August 31st from 12 to 1 I’ll be at a table in front of the Explore Oregon stage teaching folks how to make double ribbon paperclips! Here’s a link to the Oregon State Fair Creative Living …
I recently finished a short story and realized it was time to get myself a Beta reader. The only people who have read my fiction in the past are close friends or relatives, but it was time to see what it felt like to send off a newly finished work to a total stranger. Thanks …