Welcome, Daily Science Fiction readers

Posted on May 14, 2012 by Erin

Hi! If you’re stopping by because you just read my flash “The Call” in Daily Science Fiction, thank you. It means a lot to me that you liked it enough to find out more about me. (Or maybe that you hated it enough to hunt me down and tell me how awful I am. Strong emotion is the point.) The long version of who I am is on my About me page. The short version is I’m a writer who has a varied background and likes to reflect that in her writing.

If you’d like to see more of what I’ve written, check out the Short stories page, which has links to other stories on-line as well as pointers to anthologies where some of my work appears. I’ve also self-published some work, including one mystery novel, a couple of science fiction novellas, and some shorter works. Links for that can be found on my Hartshorn Publishing page, including links for excerpts.

Last month, I participated in the A to Z Blog Challenge, using a theme of epic fantasy. I’ve also done a number of posts defining different genres, and every Monday, I like to blog about something I’m grateful for. (Today, I’m grateful for readers!) I also participate in the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour each month, where a bunch of writers post on the same topic on their blog; here’s my latest post, on deadlines.

I also blog about my garden, books I’ve read recently, recipes (infrequently), my family (without names mentioned), and anything else that seizes my fancy. Take a look around, comment if you feel so inclined, or maybe even subscribe to get e-mail updates of new posts. (Comments are closed on posts older than 21 days, so if you want to talk about something older, either comment here or use the contact form. Also, I moderate the first comment from new visitors, and I use Akismet to weed out spam. It keeps the site friendly.)

So happy you came by!

What are you grateful or happy for today?

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Posted in Gratitude, metablogging | Tagged | 11 Comments

Mother’s Day

Posted on May 13, 2012 by Erin

I have an amazing mother, one who has always believed in me, always supported me, always told me I could be who I wanted to be. She didn’t just mouth the words, though; she lived them. She went back to school to get a degree in journalism. For part of her degree, she had to take a foreign language, and I treasure the memories of getting up early to help her with her flash cards. She went back to school again when I went to college, and it was lots of fun commuting with her and even taking a class together.

Today is not just Mother’s Day; it’s also her birthday (29 again!).

She’s still here, still supporting me, even though I live far, far away now. I can only hope I’m as good a mom to my kids as she still is to me.

I love you, Mom.

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Posted in family | Tagged | 4 Comments

Reflections on A to Z

Posted on May 12, 2012 by Erin

Badge for completing A to Z Blog challenge
A to Z. This was my second year doing this, and obviously I enjoyed it enough in 2011 to return. (It wasn’t just that I’m an indexer and alphabetizing appeals to my sense of order, honestly!)

I did things differently this year — I chose a theme, I wrote some of the posts ahead of time, and I tried to comment on a lot more blogs. Continue reading →

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Posted in A to Z 2012 | 10 Comments

Random Friday

Posted on May 11, 2012 by Erin

Did I tell you I have a new flash story coming out? “The Call” will be the e-mailed story for Daily Science Fiction on Monday, May 14. If you’re not signed up to get their e-mailed stories, this is a good time to do it. Or you can wait a week, and they’ll have it posted on their site.

Spells & Swashbucklers, an anthology of pirates and magic from Dragon Moon Press, has my short story, “Maskèd Panama.” The official launch party will be over Memorial Day weekend at Balticon, but it’s available for purchase now (paperback at Amazon) (Kindle).

I did pick a winner for the Live and Let Fly giveaway contest and e-mailed to find out what format of e-book was preferred. Nutschell, if you’re reading this, check your e-mail. If I don’t have a response by next week, I’ll pick another winner.

It’s been a month since I’ve done a post on genres, and I do intend to get back to them. Life’s just been hectic — to keep those up while doing the A to Z posts would have required a lot more pre-planning (which I’m noting for next year). I will start those again next Friday. I’ve actually been pleased to see people find my blog in search engines by looking for things like the definition of urban fantasy or what makes cozy mysteries different from hard-boiled ones. Clearly, these posts are filling a need.

The A to Z challenge was a lot of fun, and the hosts of the challenge encouraged everyone to do a reflections post. They said, “You can put up your Reflections post anytime between now and Saturday May 12th.” Mine will go up tomorrow. If you’re interested in my thoughts, what I liked, what I’d do differently, come check it out. Otherwise, feel free to go enjoy the weekend. It’s supposed to warm up about 10 degrees here and be sunny (which still leaves it cooler than California and Nevada — springlike weather here generally is for the most part in the 60s and 70s). I may even get outside to plant the flowers I bought from the fundraiser at my daughter’s daycare (begonia, portulaca, impatiens, and geranium).

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Posted in Updates | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

Books that keep me up too late

Posted on May 7, 2012 by Erin

Last night, I stayed up until 1 in the morning to finish The Black Opera by Mary Gentle. It’s a marvelous tale, set in 19th century Naples, with Napoleon, the Inquisition, opera (obviously), zombies (sort of), questions about God, science and reason vs. superstition and faith, a ticking clock, and magic and miracles that come through music. (Also, Italian swearing for the beginner!) I had some issues with the editing and proofreading, but the story itself captivated me, and I was unwilling to put it down and get some sleep. Sure, I could have finished reading it today, but I just couldn’t bear to wait to see how it all turned out.

It made me feel my own writing was inadequate, but at the same time, I am so grateful that Gentle’s writing is so very immersive. I love discovering books that I don’t want to put down until I reach the end.

Have you read a book like that recently? What are you grateful for today?

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Posted in Gratitude, reading | 14 Comments

Deadlines and me

Posted on May 2, 2012 by Erin

In my freelance work, deadlines are a fact of life. Every project comes with one, and I know exactly how much time I have to complete the work.

For that reason, I’ve always liked themed anthologies and contests: I know how much time I have to write the story and, generally, how long it should be. NaNoWriMo also comes with a very specific, built-in deadline, and I’ve participated every year since 2003. Blogging deadlines work for me, too — my Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour post on the second of every month, and the A to Z Blog Challenge.

Do you notice something that all of these have in common? They’re externally created. When I read Alex’s post yesterday (Deadlines? Deadlines? What are deadlines?), I agreed totally. Self-imposed deadlines are a pain in the neck, and there are no consequences to letting them slip.

What I’m finding useful this year, though, is combining self-imposed deadlines with external expectations. I’ve promised to have something new up for sale every month, and because I know people are waiting (even if it is just a handful of people right now), I make sure I get something done. Note the generic “something” here — that’s key. I’m not committing myself to any particular story or novel getting done and posted in a given month. Eventually, I’ll probably have to do that as I build an audience and they expect reliability. Right now, it’s just focus on getting things done and building that audience.

What do you find helpful to meet your goals, writing or otherwise?

Today’s post was inspired by the topic “Deadlines: Love’em or hate’em?”– May’s topic in the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour — an ongoing tour where you, the reader, travel around the world from author’s blog to author’s blog. We have all sorts of writers at all stages in their writing career, so there’s something for everyone to enjoy. The next post in the tour will be on the 4th, by D. M. Bonnano. Be sure to check it out.

If you want to get to know nearly twenty other writers and find out their thoughts on crossing genre lines, check out the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour. You can find links to all of the posts on the tour by checking out the group site. Read and enjoy!

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Posted in Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour | Tagged , , | 11 Comments

Life

Posted on April 30, 2012 by Erin

I’m grateful to be alive. I don’t always say it, but it’s true. Things could have gone much worse when I had my accident. Also, as long as I’m alive, I know that things will change. Circumstances may get better, they may get worse, but they will change. I tend to look for them getting better, and I tell myself, “This, too, shall pass,” when I’m feeling really down. It doesn’t always convince me, but even when my heart doesn’t believe, my mind knows it’s true.

This, too, shall pass — this Monday, this slump, this whatever. I am alive and grateful for it.

What are you grateful for today?

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Posted in Gratitude | 12 Comments

Z is for Zelazny and Zette

Posted on April 30, 2012 by Erin

Roger Zelazny largest body of work is The Chronicles of Amber. Amber has everything you could want in an epic fantasy — magic, swordplay, internecine rivalry, missing persons. . . . I hate to call it epic, though, as our world figures into the storyline (albeit as a shadow of the true worlds). Is it portal fantasy, with the Pattern acting as a portal? Or epic? Or something else?

(For the record, my favorite work by Zelazny is Doorways in the Sand. I’m a sucker for a book where one of the major plot points is chirality!)

For something that’s more clearly epic, I turn to Zette — Lazette Gifford, who has been working on a new epic fantasy and blogging about it this year — on her world-building, outlining, and writing. I think it should be lots of fun when it’s done: Project Water, Stone, Light. (Her most recent post on this project is about finishing the first book, not liking where it ends, and be ready to expand to a second book.) I particularly like the legend she posted on January 7. It begins:

A thousand years ago. . . .

. . . And over the high pass, though the place even then called The Barbarian Gate, came ten thousand invaders, and ten times as many following, intent on conquering the wide green lands of Tygen. The king and the army stood their ground at the headwaters of the Habur River, knowing they could not win against such odds as came at them from the cold northern lands.

The messengers sent by the barbarian king laughed to see them so unsettled. The king grew enraged and the four Prelates of the temples grew angry. The Prelates lifted their magic and created out of the messengers dog-like things, and those went yipping back to their master.

And this brings me to the end of my A to Z of epic fantasy. I’ll be posting a reflection post on May 7, and I’ll keep talking about epic fantasy — I read and write it, so that’s only to be expected. I hope you’ve enjoyed the blog challenge.

This is a post for the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge. My theme is epic fantasy, and blog posts will cover authors, books, tropes, themes, or anything else I can think of to fill the alphabet. Check out some of the other bloggers participating or follow my blog by e-mail if you like what you’ve read.

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Posted in A to Z 2012 | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Y is for You Never Know

Posted on April 28, 2012 by Erin

I had real trouble with this one. I couldn’t come up with any Y words that directly said “epic fantasy.” I played with ideas, like using a list including words like yataghan and yogurt to talk about how specificity aids in bringing a world to life, or using Yahtzee in the title and segueing into the use of games in fiction, or talking about Yog-Sothoth (although Lovecraft is most definitely not epic fantasy), or saying something like “Y is for fantasy spelled backward” (though I couldn’t figure out where to go from there). Continue reading →

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Posted in A to Z 2012 | Tagged | 6 Comments

Christmas Tree Farm Murders for sale

Posted on April 27, 2012 by Erin

cover for The Christmas Tree Farm MurdersMy alter ego, Sara Penhallow, has published her first mystery. As soon as I figure out this “Multisite” functionality of WordPress 3.0, I’ll be creating a blog for her on her page, although I won’t be updating it as often as I do this blog. This is the first of two mystery series I’m working on; I won’t launch the other until two or three of the River Corners series are up.

Below, I’ve posted the first chapter of this mystery, along with links to buy the e-book. (Sorry, no paperbacks yet. I’ll let you know when they’re available, possibly later this year.)

Isobel Santini–managing editor, terrible cook, and best friend–is present at the discovery of a grisly murder. Shaken, she tries to return to her normal routine working at the college press, but when her best friend becomes the prime suspect and a second murder follows the first, Isobel has to drag herself out of her slush and into the snow to hunt for clues, much to the disapproval of her cousin, the chief of police. Along the way to finding the killer, she encounters a handsome newcomer, endures the town Christmas pageant, evades her match-making aunt, and forgets to put up her own Christmas tree. The dénouement comes in the off-white linoleum halls of academe, when Isobel and the killer confront each other face-to-face.

Continue reading →

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Posted in fiction, Hartshorn Publishing | Tagged , , | 6 Comments