You know when a mainstream book goes really big, and it’s something that uses SF tropes. Like, for instance, if someone writes a books with vampires and then acts as though urban fantasy doesn’t exist. Her fans read it. They say, “OMG! These vampires that she’s invented are the best thing ever!” And then they […]
A metaphor of cultural appropriation for SFF writers. Read More »
So yesterday, Mark Osier, the Music Guest of Honor at Westercon did a Writing Excuses themed concert. It was wonderful. All four of us were sitting there grinning like idiots during the show. We recorded it, so hopefully we can play the truly awesome song he wrote about the podcast for you. Real soon now.
MRK’s Sunday Westercon schedule Read More »
Westercon has been a blast so far. One of the highlights yesterday was listening to Bradley Voytek’s Guest of Honor presentation. He’s the science guest of honor and is a professor of neuroscience/cognitive science at USCD. Also, he’s written a book on the science of zombies. Awesome.
Today looks like it is shaping up to be good as well.
Here’s where to find me…
MRK’s Saturday schedule + Regency dancing! Read More »
I’m having a great time at Westercon in Salt Lake City, and here’s my schedule du jour. 10:00am – Guest of Honor: Mary Robinette Kowal, Salon D&E 1:00pm – Writing Excuses: w/Cory Doctorow, Salon D&E “Writing Excuses” is a local award-winning, nationally loved writing (FREE) podcast concerning writing. Join live tapings of this lively, instructive
Where to find me on the 4th of July… at Westercon Read More »
On Writing Excuses, we get a lot of questions that are related to how an idea becomes a story. So, we decided to demonstrate by doing podcasts that started with the raw idea going through the development process and then writing the fiction. We’ve put together a collection of four stories written by the members
Shadows Beneath: The Writing Excuses Anthology Read More »
I know, I know… It wasn’t on the list of names we were considering, but allow me to explain why it fits her so well. Sadie is short for Sarah, which means “princess” or “lady.” You can see that she has already made her position clear in the household. Sadie Peterson Delaney was the head
New Cat has a name… Welcome Sadie. Read More »
Last week, I got a phone call from Peggy Rae Sapienza, who is one of the co-chairs of World Fantasy. She had a favor to ask. I like it when she asks me for favors. The one before this was, “Would you mind running the Whiskey tasting with Guy Gavriel Kay on the Wednesday before WFC starts?”
I am the Toastmaster for World Fantasy in D.C. this year Read More »
So far, I can tell you that she’s very affectionate, has tiny little vocalizations, and looooooooves being brushed. As in, she will lie down and air-knead while you are working on her. Her fur is a little scraggly because she’s had a rough go, but I think she’ll bounce back quickly.
She and Marlowe have seen each other, but not been allowed in the same room together yet. They both are curious, but we want to give her time to feel more comfortable with the space before tossing a giant at her.
Meet our new cat, name to be determined Read More »
I have this theory when I teach writing, that it’s easier to learn things if you break them into separate techniques. One of the things a writer needs to learn is how to edit. It can be totally overwhelming, which is why you’ll hear the advice about “Turn off your Internal Editor” when writing. I
Video: How to train your internal editor Read More »
I inherited three things from Grandma: two cast iron skillets, and her mother’s cookbook. This morning, I made the eggless corn muffins. 1 1/8 cup flour 1 1/8 cups yellow corn meal 1/2 teaspoon soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons sugar 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 1/2 cups sour milk 1 tablespoon melted shorting. Sift
Eggless corn muffin recipe from my Great-grandma Stephens’s cookbook Read More »
We had to say goodbye to our cat Harriet today. She was fine last week, but then lethargic over the weekend and when we took her in to the vet… The decline was very fast. Rob and I spent last night cuddling with her. She was such a lap cat, that it was easy to think
What you are about to see is not brilliant dancing. It is, instead, an example of the ways in which my husband loves me. Before we got married, I had the standard checklist that people develop on things that their partner must have. One of those, for me, was ballroom dancing. My parents met in a
Dancing and accounting as an expression of love. Twue wuv… Read More »
Last year, I got a package in the mail that is the very definition of bitter-sweet. It was from Jay Lake. I say that it was bitter-sweet because I knew what it was. I’d heard Jay talk about this project. This is his genome, woven by Astrid Bear. More specifically, it’s the base pair sequence of
This is the Jay Lake genome scarf Read More »
I have a 2300 word short story, that I’d love to have a few beta-readers on. It’s been ages, but this is actually one I wrote just for fun so there’s no rush on feedback. Here’s a teaser. Rockets Red Watching his mother kneel awkwardly in her rented space suit, Aaron worried his lower
Have time to beta-read a 2300 word SF short story? Read More »
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
Protected: Draft: Rockets Red Read More »