Archive for the 'About Writing' Category
Reading Recommendation: The Hearts of Horses
Molly Gloss.
I first discovered her when she wrote a wonderful science fiction book about a generation ship called The Dazzle of Day. This was before she wrote Wild Life, the book all of Seattle read one year (except me). Her short fiction still shows up sometimes in genre magazines, and it’s very, very good.
He [...]
Flash Fiction: Alien Graveyards
I have a piece of flash fiction up at Alien Skin magazine. That means really short fiction. This is the third I’ve published - the other two are both print publications in Nature Magazine. It’s a fun form to work in - trying to get emotion out in just a page or so [...]
Progress on the Fremont’s Children Series
Many bits of news on this series. I just received the copyedits for READING THE WIND, the second book. It appears to be scheduled to come out in July. I’ll be reading every page of a 400 page manuscript out loud (after my lessons with MAYAN DECEMBER where I ended up having [...]
Endings
A reader wrote to me about endings yesterday - or more specifically, about the ending to Building Harlequin’s Moon, which he didn’t like. I was sorry he didn’t like it, but there’s not much possible to do about an ending that’s already published, and in this case, written so many books ago I’d have to [...]
A nice writing week
Sometimes it’s the small things, which do all add up.
I made my writing goal of 750 words a day (3 pages) every day this week
I got an unexpected opportunity to play ultimate frisbee with some of the guys from work, and it was a brilliant fall day (yes, exercise is related to writing - it’s [...]
Reading Recommendation: Maximum Ride (the trilogy)
This is a YA series by James Patterson. It’s very, very clever. I’d call it “Wizard of Oz meets Frankenstein in the Brave New World with a really, really cool protagonist. Add spice from superhero comics.” I shouldn’t have to comment on Patterson’s prolific ability to write an engaging story - [...]
Paperback of Silver Ship and the Sea Pub Date
Based on my Google alerts note this morning, Amazon in Canada is advertising the paperback version The Silver Ship and the Sea for July, 2008. Now, the US version of Amazon doesn’t show it at all. The book has been widely avaiolable in Canada, at least according to some of my friends who’ve [...]
Workshops can be good for the soul
I attended a writing workshop at the Hugo House yesterday with Charles de Lint. He is one of my favorite authors - he writes clean, upbeat, intersting fiction where his characters deal with current problems - all of it set in cities and towns and touched by magic. He calls it Mythic Fiction [...]
Things Sneak up on You
I was filing papers tonight, so I took a few moments to update my list of publications, and found I have seven short stories pending publication - which might be a personal best for all at one time. And mostly, that’s the result of taking an extra month after the last book to focus [...]
I’ve had the same question three times in three days
“How do you write books and do your job?”
The answer is not anything real hard to figure out. I can write 750 words (three manuscript pages) in one to two hours if I have any energy at all. 750 words a day adds up - I started the book I’m working on 10 [...]
