And then the end of the first part happens and you remember it’s the easy part and now the hard work begins. Because it is hard. Very much so. But a milestone is a milestone. It deserves to be acknowledged. If only because the work changes now, shifts gears, the work comes from a different […]
Tagged: writing (33)
Alpha and Omega
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Also tagged first draft, Jones, little red riding hood, novel, pew pew
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Because Social Media is Social!
We’re sharing stuff. Lots of stuff. My last book was partly about this (and that last book is out in paperback this summer – preorder now! And if you don’t like reading, you can get it as an audiobook too!). Not completely but more than one review talked about the “age of oversharing” or something […]
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Also tagged bullies, devo, ello, Facebook, first draft, Jones, krakken, trolling, trolls, word count
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This Is What I’m Up To
I believe I’m three quarters of the way through the first draft of my new novel. If I’m following the outline (which has become more like a well-thought out list of well-thought out suggestions rather than an actual set of, you know, instructions that I’m supposed to heed), then I’m three quarters of the way […]
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Also tagged almonds, audiobook, bleeding, California, Cosmonaut Avenue, drought, editing, ello, Giller, Joshua Tree, Los Angeles, meerkat, microfiction, overpopulation, Palm Springs, Quebec Writers Federation, Skylight Books, tweet, Twitter, water, workshop
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Here Be Monsters
As a writer, I’m very protective of first drafts. Or have been. For some writers, first drafts are throw-aways, warm-ups, and nothing more. I’ve read of some writers that literally throw away their first drafts and start over because now the story is inside them or something. These people are monsters. The first draft is […]
Scenes From the Making of a Novel
What does it look like to write a book? It’s a stupid question. I wrote Waiting for the Man over a long period, in many different circumstances. Some drafts were written by hand. Some were done entirely on computer. I do most of my editing by hand as well, so I’d print out the latest […]
Ceci N’est Pas Un Blog Post
This is not a blog post about anything. This is not a blog post about the unimaginable inanities taking place in Quebec, or Washington, DC, or Syria, or anywhere else. This is not a blog post about what makes a blog post and what makes an essay and whether or not the word blog is […]
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Also tagged blogs, Breaking Bad, Dinette Triple Crown, essays, Facebook, fried chicken, House of Representatives, irony, Jonathan Frenzen, LinkedIn, Magritte, math, novel, Quebec, Syria
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On Vacation
You go away with the stated intention of getting “recharged” and that’s just what you do. You get recharged. Recharging involves UNcharging in many ways, unplugging and finding a place off the grid so that all you do is read (and read and read – a bunch of my reviews of stuff I read is […]
And Yet Another Installment in the March of the Novel (or Slow Cooking is the Best Cooking)
The slow (but steady) march toward publishing, as inexorable as a stream finding the ocean, forward. Editing. Done. Copy Editing. Done. First two rounds of drafts for the covers. Yes. (this is going to be a good looking book, I can tell you that, this is the designer’s website) And then there’s more waiting. Holy […]
Another Instalment in the March of the Novel
Since we last spoke. Or I wrote and you read. Or, man, what is the correct nomenclature here? I went through edits with my editor. Twice. The second one took less than a few hours. This process started with a breathtakingly lovely letter from her. And it ended with me pressing “send” a few weeks […]
In Between Days
I have started writing my next novel. I’m not making an announcement, just saying it, in a non grand way (well, why say it at all? you may ask and you would be right to ask it). But after a good six months – it’s more than that, but I’ve been rather single minded the […]
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Also tagged agent, character development, novel, Pets, preparation, procrastination, puppies, Thai beef salad, torture
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