Messing with the format

I'm really struggling with Fiction Friday, and I can't imagine going through this 52 more times. Here is my twisted and internecine thought process: Most publications only accept original work that has not been seen anywhere else (including my own blog).   If I post my fiction to the blog it has to be something …

Fiction Friday: He Watches

  I think the Elf on the Shelf is creepy.  Though I've posted this before, it is time for the horror story I wrote about the skeevy little dude.  So for Fiction Friday today, I give you "he-watches". (Click on the link to read the PDF flash fiction.)

Researching Science Fiction

The fun part about Science Fiction is that it’s based on science. Real science. The world now. Then it’s imagined, invented, and takes several logical leaps.  Then scientists leap along with these imaginings, and those things become real.  Life imitates art imitates life. I freaking love it. One requirement of being a science fiction author …

“Fiction Fridays” and other decisions

Before I came upon the idea of "140 characters", I had named Fridays to be set aside for fiction.  Then 140 came in and made itself a weekly visitor. I still like the 140 story, but honestly, I think it's losing people.  I tried a poll last week, and four people completed it. Going forward, …

Three Things I’m Working On This Week

Sometimes I break my to do lists up into categories so I can get a smattering of things done across them. (This means doing some of the things I have to do, and balancing them with things I want to do.)  One of the category sets I like to use is "Beginning, Maintaining, and Finishing," …

Yeah, it’s done. But is it Done-done?

I really enjoyed this article in Forbes with various authors weighing in on when a story is finished.  The writing part is pretty easy to figure out. You've completed everything you've set out to do, and you've typed THE END at the bottom of a very large document. The revising part is far less concrete. …

Putting my Dreams in Other People’s Hands

I'm a very goal-oriented individual.  I make goals that reach five or ten years into the future, and then I make plans on how I'm going to get there. The same way I plan the ending of the book and map the plot, I've got steps toward all of my big dreams. I'm not one …

Why and How I’m doing NaNoWriMo This Year

I've mentioned before that I'm signed up for National Novel Writing Month this November. Why am I doing NaNoWriMo? November's as good a time as any to write another book, and I like the camaraderie. If it weren't November, it may be March, for all I care, really. What I need in terms of my …

The Sanctity of Originality

I've had a conversation about this with several other writers, and I wanted to open up the conversation here. If I went up into the attic, I know precisely where to find the handwritten pages and pages of Pern fanfiction. I was a green dragonrider, didn't you know? My friend Cindy and I spent hours …

Nattering about NaNoWriMo

Every year, I look at November with equal measures of dread and giddy anticipation. Each year, I look at the stress levels in my life, at my works in progress, and at my social calendar November 1-30.  Last year, I decided not to participate in National Novel Writing Month, because I was coming down off …