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Musings: Accepting Your Unique Writing Process

Some writers work fast. Some writers work slow. Very slow. There’s a lot of pressure in the writing/publishing world to write on at least a book a year pace. There’s pressure from readers, too, as we can see from the way some readers bemoan the length of time they have to wait for George R.R. [...]

Musings: Writing Through Tragedy

Writing through tragedy…I’ve tried to write this post a dozen times. It’s a hard process to write about because it’s a hard thing to do. It’s been said before that writing through personal tragedy can be theraputic, even if you can’t use these pieces for publication. And agents caution against sending them your tragically-inspired but [...]

Ponderisms, New Stuff, and Congratulations

Behold: I have decided to pull Hex from submission. I received some sage personal feedback from two agents and form rejections from all the rest, and I realize that Hex just isn’t ready yet. I love this story. I believe in this story. I know, really and truly know, that this is a story worthy [...]

New Writing Gig

After spending a very enjoyable year writing for Debuts and Reviews, I was sad to see it go. The URL still houses a wonderful blog, but the reviews are pretty much gone, and with them my outlet for writing about the sort of books I love. But a new opportunity has arisen: I will now [...]

New!

I have posted a brief summary of Fiddlesticks to the “My Writing” page. It’s a historical fantasy set in colonial Maryland and is intended to be the first in a series of three books. I recently finished the first draft. This post is too short. Enjoy this picture of a cupcake that looks like Mr. [...]

Life, the Universe, and Everything

Not having the internet at home has resulted in it being a crazy long time since I posted anything. I really hate that it’s been this long. Still working on getting phone lines run to the new house and all that stuff. In the meantime, I have been doing a lot of reading lately, but [...]

Checking In

So it’s been forever since I posted anything, I know. Apologies! I just wanted to make an appearance. I’ll be reviving Monthly Reading soon with a Summer Reading post, to cover everything I’ve read between May and now. In September, there will probably be some squeeing and all-around excitedness, because that’s when The House on [...]

Technique and the Master Writer

In writing, we tend to think about craft in categories: plot, characterization, dialogue, description, and so on. Like any craftsmen, such is our training. To learn the mechanics of technique, we must learn each technique individually, just as artists learn color and symmetry separately. But craft only becomes art when those techniques cease to be [...]

The Facebook Writer’s Challenge

There’s only so much you can say in 420 characters. Or is there? Facebook is certainly an exercise in writing efficiency. If you have only a brief sentence to share, you won’t have a problem, but if you want to go on a bit longer, Facebook forces you to cut absolutely every nonessential word. It [...]

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  • Note: In the past, I have been active on a number of sites/forums which are either no longer in existence or I am on no longer. Such places include but are not limited to LiveJournal, LibraryThing, Examiner.com, and Debuts and Reviews.
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