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…

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…

O Happy Day!

Review copy of  DEEDS OF YOUTH arrived in the mail today for me to look at all the pages and find any flaws.   I did some, will do more tomorrow and Sunday.   Today was gloating and checking the first two stories in it.  I’ve had too much screen time lately, working on “Bank Transfer” so Read More…