Meet my 106-year old Grandma. My dad, on fiddle, and his friend stopped by to play for her today. I learned that my great-grandfather played the fiddle. After the camera was off, I also found out that Grandma used to play the slide guitar. What’s really crazy? I recorded this on my phone and Grandma
Serenading Grandma Read More »
Yesterday, I showed you a sneak peek of Glamour in Glass through a picture of Jane’s dove grey silk dress. She thought it seemed dingy by comparison… to what? To this dress. The dove silk which had seemed so fine when she had commissioned it last summer now seemed dingy by comparison to gowns such as
Glamour in Glass: Lady Hertford’s claret velvet dress Read More »
In three months, Glamour in Glass, will hit the book stores. The first chapter is in the trade paperback of Shades of Milk and Honey, so you’ve already had a little bit of a teaser. Since one of the things that attracts me to the Regency are the pretty, pretty clothes, I’m going to offer you
Glamour in Glass Teasers in Pictorial Form Read More »
Let’s build the plants and animals for your science fiction or fantasy book! We begin with a discussion about naming, and about deciding how much evolutionary biology to put into creating cool beasties. We also talk about planning a food chain, building around water, and considering other resources (especially wood, for growing fantasy civilizations.) Other
Writing Excuses 7.2: World Building Flora and Fauna » Writing Excuses Read More »
Welcome to the new season of Writing Excuses! Let’s start with a trip to the dark side! How do you take a good character and make them evil? And why would you want to do this? Brandon, Dan, Mary, and Howard answer that second question first, and then walk you through the process of doing
Writing Excuses 7.1 When Good Characters Go Bad » Writing Excuses Read More »
This is one of my favorite memes. It’s a look at the last year, through the first line of my first blog post of each month. Oh, the things one runs across while researching. I have, of late, been pondering the rituals of mourning. I’m absolutely delighted to announce that I’ll be attending Baycon this year as
First lines of 2011 Read More »
Here we are nearly a week into the New Year and I haven’t posted a thing. You might wonder why. That would be a little thing called Stomach Flu. Now, I don’t want you to think that I’ve been sick for the last two weeks. No, no… It’s a plague that swept through my family,
Every year, Rob makes eggnog. It is an amazing, amazing eggnog. This year, he was checking it as he added ingredients and got a funny look on his face. A moment later, he picked up the carton of half and half he’d just added and the look changed to disbelief. “The half-and-half is sweetened.” I
There’s corn syrup in the half & half? Really? Read More »
Merry Christmas! Here’s the last episode of Writing Excuses Season 6! We decided to end the season with a discussion of endings. Specifically, we answer cries for help that we’ve gotten. The cries answered include: I’m 90% done and I’ve painted myself into a corner! How do I end this book without resorting to deus
Writing Excuses 6.30: Help! I Can’t End My Book! » Writing Excuses Read More »
I hope your holiday is bright and enjoyable. This is a short story which takes place between Shades of Milk and Honey and Glamour in Glass. Last year I wrote about Christmastide with the Ellsworths. This year’s short story takes place the next morning and is our newlyweds’ first Christmas morning together. I’ve hidden it
Wednesday, December 21st: They say great things come in threes, so stop by Klindts from 1:00 – 3:00pm to visit with three authors: Inara Scott: will be signing her latest title Radiant Desire, as well as The Candidates. Katie Kacvinsky: will be debuting her novel Awaken. And I will be there to discuss and sign Shades of
I’ll be at Klindt’s Booksellers in The Dalles today Read More »
Let’s talk about character foils, and how to use them. We begin with a definition of character foils, expertly read by Mary. Then we talk about some archetypes, like the straight-man and the funny-guy, the hero and the sidekick, and offer some examples. And then it’s nuts-and-bolts time: we talk about how and why to
Writing Excuses 6.29: Character Foils » Writing Excuses Read More »
For the past several years, Paul Cornell has written a series called The Twelve Blogs of Christmas and he’s doing so again this year. They are always a delight to read as he covers a gamut of year end thoughts. This year, he’s including a note from different creators about what their holiday plans are.
My Christmas plans are described in Paul Cornell’s The 12 Blogs of Christmas: Five Read More »
I’m delighted that my novella “Kiss Me Twice” will be in the new anthology by Rich Horton and Sean Wallace. Looking at the lineup of Recent A.I., I think this is going to be a great set of stories. I’ve read two previously: Rachel Swirsky’s “Eros, Philia, Agape” was a phenomenal story and I really
Sale! Robots: The Recent A.I., edited by Rich Horton and Sean Wallace Read More »
A mashup of… No. You just have to watch it to believe it. (Hat tip to Lee Moyer)
Rudolph (You Don’t Have To Put On The Red Light) Read More »