writer at play
Posted in linktopia on Feb 22nd, 2009
I’m late getting this out. Had a really busy weekend, and now my husband is sick, poor guy.
Onwards:
Kelley McCullough on Waiting for Godot Inspiration, a play that is considerably shorter and less frustrating than the Samuel Beckett one. I laughed out loud at the moral lesson at the end. It just might become my new [...]
Posted in creativity, inspiration on Feb 20th, 2009
Yesterday I did a fun thinking exercise that netted me a couple of story ideas. It’s been a while since I let my muse-brain out to play; there was no pressure, just plain old fun.
Here’s what I did:
I spent a couple of minutes scribbling down words as they came to me, mostly nouns, mostly names [...]
Posted in creativity on Feb 18th, 2009
A snippet from the book I’m currently reading:
… I defined creativity as a willingness to come up with and pursue one hundred ideas knowing that ninety-nine of them are stupid. (Coloring Outside the Lines by Roger Schank, pg. 33)
The debris of my writing endeavors is chock-full of broken stories, unfinished stories that fizzled out on [...]
Posted in goals, kai, motivation, short stories on Feb 16th, 2009
So far this month, I have:
Got a total of 9K words on the new book
Revised and submitted a short
And am in the process of revising another short
My plan was revise and submit three shorts this month. One was to be the latest Elinor story, but I think I need to write a prequel first. The [...]
Posted in creativity, guilt, kids at play on Feb 14th, 2009
In my dark moments (usually when lying awake, unable to sleep, in the middle of the night), I’ve questioned our decision to keep the kids at home instead of sending them to preschool. Can I, I wondered, really compete with trained teachers, playground equipment, and tons of art supplies, manipulatives and educational toys? Then I [...]
Posted in linktopia on Feb 10th, 2009
This is the SF&F writer edition, apparently:
Author Jay Lake on staying the course.
Agent Kristin Nelson’s assistant, Sara Megibow, is now acquiring books. What caught my eyes was this:
Science Fiction and Fantasy = This is probably my all time favorite genre. For me, it is important to create a vivid, intense world that is incorporated seamlessly [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Feb 9th, 2009
I’m always looking to learn from other writers. On Friday evening, I read Sarah Prineas’ The Magic Thief in one long sitting (okay, maybe I moved between rocking chair and futon a few times). One of her stylistic devices that I rather enjoyed was the use of hyphenated verb or adjective combinations: the “black-dark” night, [...]
Posted in kai, writing process on Feb 7th, 2009
It occurs to me that I have neglected to report my writing progress of late. Not that there is much progress to report. Cold-suffering kids, cranky kids, cuddle-wanting kids; evening time brain numbness; the siren-song lure of fantasy novels and my own lack of self-discipline have made the progress slow.
However.
I did finish tinkering with that [...]
I crocheted this scarf for my daughter a few weeks ago. I had last crocheted over four years ago (BC = Before Children). I wanted an easy pattern but couldn’t find one for a scarf. So I adapted a pattern I had for a (don’t laugh) crocheted dishcloth and went on my merry way.
I found [...]
Posted in linktopia on Feb 3rd, 2009
Agent Nephele Tempest discusses simultaneous vs. multiple submissions.
Changes in publishing? This Time article speculates.
My friend Cat (who is a writer and musician), has started a series on her blog about The Life Artistic. I love her idea about every artist creating a toolbox:
Fill that toolbox, even if it’s with things you think you’ll never use, [...]