So, I’m officially started on another book. The next Vatta book having stalled in a way I just can’t seem to fix, my agent suggested doing something else, and what came to me was an idea from Paksworld. Once I started it, it took off (as did the Vatta book for the first part) but Read More…
Tag: the writing life
Encouraging Spikes in WriterBrain and Other Oddities
Weight continues to drop, though as is typical, not as fast as I want it to. 23 pounds down, in total. My morning walks are longer and faster, but I have acquired a sore toe that demanded I skip two days or else. Was back out with the circuit that includes something around or slightly Read More…
Checking Boxes
Scene revisions completes in past week: three. Scene revisions still to be done…???? All so far have been more complicated than just weed-whacking away excess. I read it, re-read it, re-read it again, finally realize that it’s a multiple-layer problem, and devise ways to fix it. What kinds of things are complex problems? Characters not Read More…
The Plot Thickens and the Writer Thins
Somewhere, somewhen, a philosopher or other authoritative person said that if you’ve learned something (was it something new? Anything?) you’re obliged to pass on that knowledge to someone else. The process is of course unequal and therefore stressful to the recipient of the knowledge/skill being passed on, so the good news is that reciprocal exchange Read More…
The Joys of Post-Midnight Character Intrusions
Sometime last night between 3:30 and 4 am, or maybe it was three….I woke up. There’s the usual “Do I have to get to the bathroom right now or can I have another bit of sleep first” but that issue didn’t seem urgent…what did was being wide awake. WIDE awake. I tried my usual “drift Read More…
NewBook Progress
Today–tonight, actually–I cleared up a major problem found late last week. In moving things from file to file, chunks of a secondary “transfer” file got mangled and I hadn’t noticed. Luckily, since I knew I wasn’t thinking as well as I used to, I kept multiple earlier drafts under different titles, and was able to Read More…
Sockin’ It
First pair of socks knitted start to finish (9:30-something tonight, begun in the mists of mid-concussion recovery) since the 2018 concussion are DONE. And on my very, very grateful feet. They’re a rich, deep, but vibrant blue. No pics, because they’re *on my feet!!* and it’s late and I’m really tired but celebrating with hot Read More…
Some Thoughts on WriterBrain, Second Rock
Dorothy L. Sayers, who wrote some of my favorite books, also wrote essays I’ve found very useful, especially her writing on the doctrine of the Trinity and its relation to creative writing and the kinds of problems that result from what she called “Scalene Trinities.” For the non-Christians (which I wasn’t when I first read Read More…
Some Thoughts on WriterBrain, First Rock (with a few decorations)
On another site, on which I’d written a long comment about the statement “ignorance is bliss” someone complimented my writing (always pleasant to hear) and thought my “story-writing brain” was completely back in service. Which–though much improved–it’s not. That’s not a venue in which to explain how many different components and levels a fiction writing Read More…
NewBook, Sausage Balls, and the Real World
NewBook has lost 10K words as I’ve read my way carefully through it, distracted far too often by phone-spam, weather, and of course politics. Most of the 10K were inline with recommendations from early readers, and leave room for tightening the plot. However, one of the other annoying aftermaths of the concussion is that when Read More…