Informed persons tell me literary agents and editors have learned to dread the first week of December. Why? Many NaNoWriMo (November is National Novel Writing Month) newbies, flush with the endorphin high of finishing large blocks of text, immediately send out queries for those miraculous manuscripts. Or the entire manuscript, depending on the market and…
Read More Editing strategies for fictionAs promised, here are six non-explicit paragraphs of Moro’s Shield, the sequel to Moro’s Price. I offer no explanations of the action, or any promise that the published version will even look like this. It’s why they call these rough drafts, or Works in Progress, after all… *** “Ready?” asked the Ambassador. “Val, you need…
Read More Sneak Peek Sunday – Moro’s Shield, M/M space opera romanceFor my wonderful readers who keep buying my crazy book, and telling other people about it, I’m working up a tiny reward. This upcoming Sunday I’ll be posting a rough draft excerpt of Moro’s Shield here, and linked here: http://sneak-peek-sunday.blogspot.com/ This will be a non-explicit, six-paragraph look at what the boys will be doing in…
Read More Sneak Peek Sunday alertHere’s a useful resource even if you don’t write for stage or screen: Scriptshadow. One of the most-referenced scriptwriting sites on the internet, this is a trove of sold-but-as-yet-unproduced scripts, calls for entry, industry news, and insightful essays on aspects of scriptwriting. It’s been two decades since I last wrote a script. But a couple of recent…
Read More Writing resource: ScriptshadowIf I had to plot out and embroider a large-ish beaded tapestry all in one go, I’d drive myself madder than I already am. Thankfully, through the magic of piecework and applique, I can do little bits of it at a time, while aiming for that final 24″ x 36″ wall hanging piece. Some of…
Read More Spring Moon embroideryMy fellow Loose Id author Zoe Rider has a new book out this week: a M/M contemporary erotic romance called Games Boys Play. It’s edgy, funny, and rather sweet (but don’t think that takes away from the sizzling bondage-play or character angst!) Here is the buy link from Loose Id. Here’s a great character interview, and…
Read More Games Boys Play, by Zoe Rider (adult content advisory)I put this up on Pinterest, but it deserves a mention here. Blue Corn Chain is a necklace I originally finished in 1999. It’s a 37-link chain made of multicolored peyote stitch segments 6 beads wide and 24 beads long (before joining into a link). The colors are dark red, bright red, blue-purple, turquoise, teal,…
Read More Blue Corn ChainM/M romance author L.A. Witt has a great post today on how to write out of sequence. I’ve been doing that for a decade or so. It helps shake up my staid writing routine. I have an excuse to jump back and forth in a story whenever I have an ‘Ah ha!’ moment. But something…
Read More The characters always win…Because stuff like this keeps happening, to people who should maybe know better, but let greed, hope, and inexperience cloud their judgment. Case 1. Silver Publishing When I first started looking at publishing erotic romance in the summer of 2011, there was a rock-star publisher rising in the ranks, with some gorgeous covers, great writers,…
Read More Why we research publishersPart 1. Last Saturday I was fortunate enough to attend another one of the Origins Project presentations at Arizona State University’s Gammage theater. ‘Transcending Our Origins’ was a wonderful group presentation across many scientific fields of expertise, including astrophysics, political science, human evolutionary medicine, criminology, biological anthropology, business, and genomics. The presenters were Lawrence Krauss,…
Read More The Origins Project, and more good newsTo anyone who isn’t a writer, that statement might not make sense. Publishing has changed so much in the last two decades. Once upon a time, the only way to send manuscripts and queries was by hardcopy: formatted a certain way, in a certain family of fonts, and flat in a box or envelope. With…
Read More My first paper submission in years*Also known as ‘That Stark Necklace’**, or ‘I Need To Make Something Red This Week’. **This has absolutely nothing to do with that TSTL family in Game of Thrones. When I was about five, I had a clear red plastic pendant that may have come from a quarter vending machine. The pendant was roughly an…
Read More Dragonfire necklace*Karenna’s an AbsoluteWrite buddy of mine, and a fellow M/M romance writer. One of her most charming series has been about a vegetarian werewolf pushed into heroism far beyond his comfort zone. The last (so far) is in the series was released today: Tempeh For Two. The main buylink at MLR Press is here. Karenna’s website…
Read More Tempeh For Two – Karenna ColcroftThis is a classic piece of advice for new(ish) writers. It’s also one of the most frustrating, for a couple of reasons. Often, we simply don’t know how to do that yet. It takes time and work to gain the skills to ‘show’ instead of merely narrating important details. Even the critical reading skills to…
Read More Show me, don’t tell meWay back in 1996, I’d heard rumors of a great new fantasy author. The news ran sort of like this: Lynn Flewelling – Del Rey – new fantasy world that wasn’t Robert Jordanish – great map – cute male thieves – cute male thieves fighting corrupt wizards and nobles – cute male thieves crushing on…
Read More Shards of Time – new Nightrunners novel!