A few weeks ago, I visited a couple writer friends on the East Coast. As will happen when you stick authors together, the conversation turned to writing. One of them wondered what made a story successful: good writing or an intriguing premise.
At the time, I argued for good writing. A cool concept might get me […]

Ever since November, the members of my Super Secret Crit Group (named that because I told no one I was trying to get into the group back when I was trying to get into the group), have been psyching each other up for Jano. Like Nano, we intend to catch up on all of the […]

I dread the holidays.
There are parts I love; the eggnog, the excuse to play Scary Solstice music at all hours, the get togethers.
It’s the other side that bothers me. Trips to the mall. Mail ordered gifts that don’t arrive in time. Giving presents to people who spend a tenth what I spent on them. Dinners […]

The crit group was a hundred pages into Half Lives before one of them asked, “these two guys do have sex, don’t they?”
Yes, I said.
When?
In about six hundred pages.
We’ll get to see it, right?
Um . . . no.
The answer, while unloved, had been something I’d wrestled with for a while. HL was a dark fantasy. […]

At this moment, the turkey is resting and all of the side dishes are done. After hours of prep and cook time, all that waits is for the guests to arrive and the food to get served. Until then, I’m going to steak these few quiet moments and write.
This is a chaotic, though pleasant, time. […]

When I went to the workshop in September, I mailed my clothes to my friend’s house, so I wouldn’t have to check a bag. During the month I was there, I picked up a few more items, and when the time came to return home, I asked her to just mail my stuff back […]

I hit a wall recently in the revision. I couldn’t continue until I figured out what was bothering me, so I backtracked to the beginning of the current chapter and began reading.
Oh wow . . .
To say that I was stunned by what I was reading is an understatement. As goofy as this sounds, I […]

I’m alive!
And processing. The workshop was freaking awesome, but damn if it didn’t take me deeper into the novel. On the bright side, I know things about the characters and the plot I hadn’t known before, and my tension has sharpened. The story is going to be fantastic when I finish it.
The bad side?
There isn’t […]

Okay, so it goes without saying that anyone who reads this blog is most likely also a regular, if not avid, reader of books. Translate this to mean that none of us can go on vacation for a week, or even a weekend, without packing a selection of books. Generally, I pack one book for […]

I’m not done yet.
It’s both scary and exciting. I leave next Tuesday for New Jersey. The workshop starts September 10th; the novel has to be out the door before then. Tomorrow would be nice. Or Saturday. Heck, Monday.
Seeing the crit group’s reactions to the story?  When people are threatening you to give them more chapters, you […]