Nobody’s perfect. That we all make mistakes is no excuse for not trying to prevent them, or fixing them afterward. It’s certainly not a reason to go on the offensive and try to deny there was ever a mistake in the first place. Own up, early and completely: most sane people will probably forgive you,…
Read More The importance of proofreadingAfter looking at my old 1st attempt at a fossil mammoth-ivory needle, I decided to re-create the second needle I made back in the mid-80s. Ergo, the new needle is here: This is a fossil mammoth ivory needle 62 x 4 x 3mm, hole 4 x 1.5mm. Inlaid plug of stabilized turquoise. Anchored with DevCon…
Read More A new needleSo, since I didn’t get Singer In Rhunshan into PitchWars (and knew it would be a longshot), I’m back to the revisions on Moro’s Price. For those of you who didn’t know, the latter is a big space opera-ish M/M erotic romance set against a futuristic but by no means scientific background. When wrote it…
Read More Valier, digital pastel, 8-26-2016It is that lovely time of the summer when the Hugo Awards are happening. In just a few minutes, we’ll see what kind of debacle this will be. Livestreaming here: http://www.ustream.tv/hugo-awards Added: congratulations to the deserving winners, the deserving nominees, the suffering announcers, and the sweaty audience of Hotel Debacle. And jeers to the sad…
Read More 2016 Hugo AwardsFaith and Freedom Coalition Survey, Part 2 of 2. Question 8: What is your opinion of the fact that Hillary Clinton says she wants to use the full force of the government to change the beliefs of Christians to conform with support of same-sex gay marriage and support for abortion-on-demand? I’m given, predictably, the choice…
Read More Faith and Freedom Coalition Survey Part 2 (political rant)Part 1 of 2. Summary and warning: I get harsh with certain evangelical Christians. Why did Dr. Ralph Reed and his evangelical Christian Faith and Freedom Coalition send me an advertising pitch disguised as a voter survey? Maybe because I was a registered Republican for many years? I’m a 50ish female Independent voter in Arizona, which…
Read More Faith and Freedom Coalition Survey, Part 1 (political rant)I’ve entered a manuscript into the 2016 Pitch Wars. I’m one of about 2000 writers vying for 128 slots, to be mentored for two months while I revise the mms. In early November, the mentee authors get a chance to have their work considered by a large group of agents and publishers. I have a…
Read More Writer’s Dilemma: 2016 edition(And a bonus Craft Credo rant!) I had forgotten how much fun wire wrapping can be. After a clunky start, I’m picking up on skills I left dormant a decade or more ago. Ear cuffs (aka ear jackets, ear couplings, etc) are a fun but ambitious way to jump back into this technique. 1) Here’s…
Read More Silver Ear Cuffs, revisitedNearly any fantasy writer knows someone who cosplays the Lord of the Rings* movies. It may actually be a rule of fandom, I’m not sure. The jewelry, props, and costumes were that damned good. I draw the line at some of the ‘elf ear’ pointy earcuffs, because I’ve only seen a few that were magnificent.…
Read More Blackened Silver Ear CuffsSo, apparently I’m doing this thing called Pitch Wars next week. I have my first chapter reasonably polished, hammered together something that might pass for a hook, cooked up an 800-word synopsis, and achieved a query that didn’t make my current CPs barf. I am exhausted but happy. For people stalking my mms, there’s plenty…
Read More My Pitch Wars bioThis deserves a post of its own. Dan Koboldt has this reasoned and honest breakdown of last months’ #SFFpit Twitter pitch event. The Fifth SFFpit and Twitter Pitch Fatigue I’ve linked to it here, because it has some very good info for people just now querying science fiction and fantasy. Some mitigating factors include bad…
Read More An #SFFPit analysisI say ‘first edition’ because I have several future paths for my first published novel, now that its association with Loose Id LLC has come to an end. Moro’s Price no longer exists as an ebook on Amazon.com, or on the Loose Id website. Over the next month or so, it will leave AllRomance Ebooks,…
Read More Moro’s Price first edition 2012 to 2016I love this graphic novel series enough to have it in my sidebar. I follow several dozen online and print graphic novels, because they’re excellent. If I included them in the links, it would be probably bore you. Girl Genius is there for lots of reasons. Give me 600 words, and I’ll blather about why…
Read More Learn to write with Girl GeniusDelaney Green is one of them that don’t burn. Possessed of the Touch – with the ability to not only see the future but manipulate it – she’s been kept in an institution for most of her life. When the Salesman, a murderous entity with a connection to Delaney’s past, starts burning girls to death,…
Read More ‘Of Lips And Tongue’ by A.G. CarpenterI have some free hours tonight. To help settle my manuscript submission jitters, I’m playing with several sewing projects that need to advance to their next stages. Not finished (cue hysterical laughter); any one of these will take far more than a couple of hours for that. Refine the patterns and start cutting UV-blocking fabric…
Read More Sew MadnessI’ve always loved the red-orange tones of carnelian: 1) Grew up in northern New Mexico. 2) A kidlet obsession with ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt. While designing the worldbuilding for the Lonhra Sequence, I somehow got fixated on the idea that the Dana homeworld’s vegetation was primarily red to purple (I blame Barrayar for that, probably).…
Read More Carnelian CollarSo a few days have passed. I did about as well in #SFFpit as I expected: one of the small publishers I know and trust liked my entries, as well as a few other people. It was a long shot with some hidden value beyond the pitch day, so I wasn’t that worried for the…
Read More #SFFpit: the epilogueI’m an Independent, and I am actually proud of the House Democrats today. They made some history by staging a fearless sitdown in the House, in protest over the Republican refusal to even *look* at upcoming gun control laws. When Paul Ryan booted out CSPAN and turned off the microphones and cameras, he forgot about…
Read More #SFFpit tomorrow, + how about them DemsAfter some hours of delay, assumed coding problems, and many thousands of panicked writers around the world…the 2016 Wattys are up and running. The Wattys are Wattpad’s *huge* annual writing contest, split among many countries, languages, and genres. It’s a fascinating way for me, as an American, to see some of the best of the…
Read More The Wattys are hereIn 2004, in the midst of a fairly divisive American Presidential election, I made this fiber art book. This is one set of pages, embroidered in red and blue cotton thread on cotton and linen ground, with fore-edges tasseled in cotton thread and glass beads. This is the original poem I wrote and embroidered into…
Read More Continental Divide: 12 years later