Lazy Indulgences and the Writing Process at Brenda Cooper

Lazy Indulgences and the Writing Process

February 24th 2008 at 5:39 pm

Every once in a while, it’s important to take down time. I’m in the school of writer’s who believes a high word count every day matters. I’m using 1,000 words a day for my current book (the third one in the series that starts with The Silver Ship and the Sea). I suppose I should name the series - maybe Fremont’s Children? That was the working title for the first book. Can you name a series after you’ve published a book or two in it? Good question, I guess. But back to the topic: Laziness.

For The Downbelow Girls, I wrote at 750 words a day, mostly since I was just too busy for words - no pun intended. And it was a YA, and could be finished in four months at that pace. The current book will take 6 months even at 1,000 words a day.

But I do believe in a little time off. The sun came out this weekend (it always comes out for one weekend in February in the Pacific Northwest). If the weather is true to pattern in spite of climate change, we may not see the great golden globe directly again until July 5th. So I worked in the garden and walked the golden retriever and soaked up Vitamin D. We all took a great big family nap this afternoon…a laziness.

I’m also switching gears into three short stories I owe, and that I want to get done in the next two weeks, and I needed to get Chelo and Joseph and company out of my head….and the weekend off let the back of my brain move from one world into another.

Just saying. Even if you’re so driven you have to write every day, a day or two off can be a good thing. Especially if the sun’s out.

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Books

Reading the Wind by Brenda Cooper

"Brenda Cooper's newest novel is a feast of character and concept. She depicts the devastation of war on microcosmic and macrocosmic levels, and even more so, the driving motives of young men and women caught in deadly conflict. Cooper is a master explorer of the interaction of society and individuals. She probes the psychology of her genetically enhanced characters with both rare depth and fidelity to scientific plausibility. Moral conundrums drive the plot in this unforgettable narrative. Don't miss this compelling work by a major new talent." - Mary A. Turzillo, An Old-Fashioned Martian Girl.

"Brenda Cooper tells a tale of a powerful brother and sister in a fight for their lives, offering insights along the way into the nature of courage and the hunger for community that burns in every human being. This is a lively book, full of colorful images and a memorable cast of human and animal characters, a worthy successor to The Silver Ship and the Sea." - Louise Marley

Available in July, 2008, from Tor Books.

The Silver Ship and the Sea by Brenda Cooper

"The first solo novel by Larry Niven's Building Harlequin's Moon (2005) coauthor portrays the thoroughly convincing human colonial society on Fremont, a dangerous planet rife with vicious predators, frequent earthquakes, and falling meteors....Distinctive characterizations, well-limned interrelationships, and the vividly realized Fremont contribute to an exciting coming-of-age story with a strong message about the evils of prejudice." - Sally Estes, Copyright American Library Association.

Mass Market Paperback, July 2008.
Included by Booklist as a "Best Adult Book for Young Adults."

Building Harlequin's Moon by Brenda Cooper and Larry Niven

"Fans of both hard and softer, psychological SF will welcome veteran Niven and newcome Cooper's well-written tale of a 60,000 year layover in space, in which physical challenges of world building are matched by the social challenges of collaboration among disparate groups." - Publisher's Weekly

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