Year: 2022
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Ask A #Writer: Is It Worth It To Be One?
Ask a Writer Asked and answered on Quora. The Original Question: Is it worth to be an author? It’s the best thing ever, but not for the reasons you think. 1) Your time is your own. You can wake up when you want to, sleep when it suits you, and you don’t let a clock…
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#NaNoWriMo: Day 2—How to De-Angst Novel #Writing
Even if you despise outlining, give it a shot. A few hours of outlining with save days of beating your head on your laptop. Trust the woman that writes novels for a living on a deadline. An outline will give you a clearer idea of where your characters are heading and make it easier for…
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A Tricky (But Important) Lesson
I decided to take a risk in one of my classes a few weeks ago. I’ve taught Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 for many years to my Honors 10 English students and it generally gets a good response. Students appreciate the storytelling, note the patterns with other dystopian stories they’re familiar with, and generally connect quite…
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Book Day! And onto the future!
So … New book day! My second book in the Tales of Bleakwater, series, The Burnt Ends of Bad Ideas, is now live and in the wild. This volume focuses on Kayla’s sister Mara as she struggles to find her purpose after the events of No Rest for Wicked Thieves. Links on the book page.…
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The Craft of #Writing: The Workbook Productivity Hack
One of my writing friends on FWO asked me to write about I how I organize my work so that I’m productive in my ghostwriting business. Everyone has their own writing process. What works for me may not work for you. But I’m glad to share my tools to push, force to help me produce…
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The craft of #writing: ratcheting chapter tension
Like a pinball, your story bounces around in your head, hitting your occipital lobe, hippocampus, and the front of your brain, lighting them all up with the act of creation. If you are a master writer, you light up the caudate nucleus, which handles skills gained over time. Creating a story uses tons of brain…
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Hugo Nominee Review: A Desolation Called Peace – Arkady Martine
This year, I’m reviewing all of the nominees for the Hugo Best Novel award. My hope is to provide a brief overview, an analysis of world-building, characters, and narrative pace/structure, and what I feel its strengths and weaknesses are. I will attempt to avoid any major spoilers but will necessarily be dealing with some specifics.…
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A Writer Looks at Fifty
(With apologies to Jimmy Buffet for paraphrasing the title of one of his hit songs.) So … Birthday today. Fifty years. Half a century on this ball of mud, and I kicked around a good part of in my time as a military brat and military member. In those decades and travels, I’ve learned a…
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Hugo Nominee Review: the galaxy, and the ground within – Becky Chambers
This year, I’m reviewing all of the nominees for the Hugo Best Novel award. My hope is to provide a brief overview, an analysis of world-building, characters, and narrative pace/structure, and what I feel its strengths and weaknesses are. I will attempt to avoid any major spoilers but will necessarily be dealing with some specifics.…
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Hugo Nominee Review: Project Hail Mary – Andy Weir
This year, I’m reviewing all of the nominees for the Hugo Best Novel award. My hope is to provide a brief overview, an analysis of world-building, characters, and narrative pace/structure, and what I feel its strengths and weaknesses are. I will attempt to avoid any major spoilers but will necessarily be dealing with some specifics.…