Worldbuilding Wednesday: Soft Focus

It’s getting to be fall, and for writers, that usually means at least an awareness of NaNoWriMo, if not outright participation. Many of us are going to be engaging in some form of all-out, keyboard-smashing orgies of writing some time in the next 60 days. That usually requires focus. I remember well the stories I […]

Momming Monday: The Reading Mom

As a mom, there’s a lot of reading in my life. Not for pleasure, but for schoolwork, for research, for any number of things, many of which revolve around lighting that fire under my kids so that they develop a love of reading that, at least for me, was probably the single biggest advantage in […]

Indie Weekend: Anti-Social Social Media

Okay, so on this blog, I talk a lot about being organized, plotting, knowing where you’re going and what you need to do. I can’t claim that it’s the most laser-focused thing in the world, though, as I’m 99.999% of the time doing it off the cuff (and thinking, Man, I’ve gotta get this blog […]

Worldbuilding Wednesday: You Know Where You’re Going, Right?

Every book I write is a journey. I climb into the car with these characters and I have some idea of the trip in mind. Sometimes that idea is our destination, sometimes it’s a time during the trip when we’re en route. Sometimes it’s just the type of transport we’re all taking (where are we […]

Worldbuilding Wednesday: Are You My Reader?

Are you my reader? Do you like to read the books I write? Maybe you’re fond of the same small-town or cozy urban settings as I like to set my stories. Out maybe you’re a fan of the kinds of quirky protagonists that populate my stories. You might like the genres my stories fall into, […]

Momming Monday: Groovy

I’ve said before that being a stay at home parent is the closest thing to a rarefied Edwardian society as you can get in yoga pants. We have our own rhythms, behaviors, habits, and quirks when grouping up or just roaming around the errand list on our own, and it’s a completely different pace to […]

Worldbuilding Wednesday: TV Tricks

I don’t have cable or satellite (weird, I know, but guess who hasn’t seen a political ad ALL YEAR), so when I get into a TV show, it is usually a few years old, and available by the season on Netflix. This gives me a unique perspective in viewing shows. I can watch them for […]

Worldbuilding Wednesday: The Long Game

Ever wonder why most of the truly famous writers are dead? It’s because writing is a long game. Not only a long game, but sometimes a very long game. Long enough so that the language itself changes before your popularity does (guess who I’m talking about). It’s easy to forget that, especially when you’re in […]

Momming Monday: When The Tank Is Low

Okay, I’ve had three false starts to today’s blog. I’m supposed to be good with the wording, but today, the braining makes the nugget hurt. We had family in from across the country and it was a wonderful–if exhausting–month of high family adventure. And no one died. At least, not all the way. But as […]

Worldbuilding Wednesday: Ups And Downs

Life has its ups and downs. Busy times and quiet times. So does your fiction. Non-stop action is good for an adrenaline rush, but as science will tell you, adrenaline rushes are, by their nature, short bursts of panic-energy that are designed to get you out of immediate danger. Not prolonged sessions of excitement. Your […]