Reorganization began last year with my office. This year the amazing Kate (who has helped me do what I couldn’t on my own, and also untangled tech problems that I couldn’t do that either) accomplished three times as much in several months, while I worked on my writing (mostly) and she did the heavy lifting Read More…
Category: the writing life
The Train Is Moving
Or, as Agent says, “it’s out of the starting blocks.” The “it” and the “train” are the first Horngard book, start of a new LONG story in Paksworld. I know many of you wanted the third Vatta’s Peace book, but several attempts to write that one failed. It would not jell. And for a longer Read More…
Writing: From Character to Plot
Last October, I suddenly lost all my files because of a) a new computer which lacked something all my others had had, a dedicated data disk and b) failure of the backup device I was using instead. This post is not about computer stuff and that’s all I’m going to say about it. This is Read More…
Crosspost from Paksworld Blog: Blades
There’s more about the picture below at this link: http://www.paksworld.com/blog/?p=3058. Just in case someone on the SF side has a latent lust for swords as well as blasters.
Road Construction Ahead (Website & Blog Roads, that is.)
This is a “long-advance” warning, but the main website, elizabethmoon.com, will be in re-design for some undetermined part of the next year. I don’t know how long it will take, or exactly what it will look like in the end (aside from knowing that no web design ever gets 100% approval from those who visit Read More…
Off to the Races
After considerable work on the Horngard I, so it now has a new beginning, new ending, and a lot of shuffling, trimming, correction of this that and the other in the middle, it’s off to Agent. Sorry about the long lapse in posting here, but later August and all of September were a wild scramble Read More…
Basics of Writing: Words
The right words in the right order….the foundation of every phrase, every sentence, every paragraph, page, chapter, volume…is made of words. In speech, the dictionary meaning of words is often less important than the physical speaker’s visual and auditory presence: facial expression, not just one but several in sequence..gesture and posture–again, not just individually but Read More…
Starts and False Starts
I don’t usually mirror entire posts from one blog to another, but this one, which is a Writing Craft post, is both pertinent to a current project (the Horngard I book) and to every writer, because all of us write a “bad” first chapter from time to time…and don’t fix it right away. What do Read More…
An Abundance of WORDS & Progress
Day before yesterday, the day after Deeds of Youth‘s birthday, I had a call from my agent, with the latest group of suggestions for Horngard I. They sounded like good suggestions to me, and doable, and the practice of completing several short stories since the April 29 head whack had proved that the plot-module had Read More…
Genres and Evaluations
Writers are aware of how their work–not just their own work but work rather like theirs–is perceived, evaluated, and judged in the world. Writers–as shown by the current WGA strike–are not nearly as highly valued as they used to be, when fewer people could write but many wanted something to read. But this post isn’t Read More…