The latest TBR pile

It’s always hard to figure out what I should include when someone asks me what’s in my TBR pile.

I’ve just put a hold request on Tobias Buckell’s Arctic Rising at the library. Ditto The Red Chamber by Pauline Chen (a re-imagining of the classic). I’m also considering picking up Knitting With the Color Guys on my next library visit. Meanwhile, what I have out from the library (but haven’t felt like reading yet) includes Miéville’s Railsea, Green’s Live and Let Drood, and Maberry’s Assassin’s Code. Oh, and I’ve just started Libba Bray’s Beauty Queens (also a library book). Also, I want to pick up another book by Madelyn Alt next time I’m in.

I’ve also got both of Mary Robinette Kowal’s books sitting here, loaned by my mom, so I can reread Shades of Milk and Honey and then read Glamour in Glass.

Then there’s Don’t Fall Asleep by Laura Eno (which I recently won in a giveaway on her blog!), as well as Raven and Wraith. Also by blogging buddies — or people I found through the A to Z blogging challenge: What’s the Worst that Could Happen? and Reunion (What I.F.?) (Nicki and Niina Ivey), Tidal Whispers (Kelly Said), and Breakthrough (Stephen Tremp).

I’ve got a few piled in my bedroom, too (as usual): Bios by Robert Charles Wilson, Dragon Bones and Dragon Blood by Patricia Briggs, Newton’s Wake by Ken MacLeod, and The Lost City of Z by David Grann.

Oh, and then there’s that compilation of romance novellas Valerie Comer blogged about last week, Central Park Rendezvous.

Um, and when I have time, I’d really like to read the Lawrence Block books on writing that I have, as well as John Gardner’s, and Steven Pressfield’s Do the Work and Turning Pro.

The problem, as ever, is deciding what order to read things in and not getting distracted by the next thing to come along (okay, so that last one is the real hard part for me). Also, there tends to be this habit I have of once I start talking about what I’m reading, not actually finishing it, so who knows what I’m actually going to be reading this month?

What about you — what’s currently on your reading shelf?

Today’s post was inspired by the topic “What’s on my to-read list?”– August’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. Bonanno. 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!

Early writing dreams

I can remember a time when I was not a writer.

In first and second grade, I wrote sentences for my spelling words, and that was about it. (I remember my mom telling me at the time that all of my sentences shouldn’t be “I did this” and “I did that.”) By the time I was in third grade, however, I was writing poetry. In fifth grade, I wrote a story to warn my teacher of the dangers of giving too much homework. (As if I ever had a problem with that!)

It wasn’t until middle school that I thought of writing a book. Continue reading

In the balance

Balance — a topic near and dear not just to every writer’s heart, or anyone who has a day job and a creative pursuit, or any person with a family and a job and interests of her own — well, okay, that probably includes all of us. Yes, it’s time to talk about how I balance everything I have to do: wife, mother, daughter, freelance worker, writer, blogger, friend, person . . . Continue reading

Deadlines and me

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. Bonanno. 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!

Under the influence

(If you’re here for the A to Z Challenge, my post for “B” is just below this on my blog (B is for Black God’s War). Or you can check out my post from yesterday, A is for Abercrombie, if you’ve not done so yet. This post is one in a regular series, posted on the second day of each month.)

I think it’s fairly clear that I’ve been influenced by everything I’ve ever read. “Matchmaker” shows off my familiarity with some Regency romance tropes, while my latest novelette demonstrates my love of Gilbert & Sullivan (I’m hoping the editors love it as much as I do!). Cozy mysteries, scientific prose, space operas — everything has been added to the mix. Continue reading

My not-so-little room

Computer and front window

The family computer where I do most of my writing. The glider on the right side of the picture is my brainstorming spot. (The balloons are from Boskone, if you're curious.)

I do most of my writing at the computer — currently, the family computer, which is positioned in the living room so I can look out the front window to rest my eyes if need be.

I do a lot of free-writing and brainstorming in the glider chair next to the computer. It puts my back to the window, but I get plenty of natural light. This is where I sat, for example, as I worked through what I wanted to write each day for NaNoWriMo this past November — what difficulties and solutions Jack Hawthorne was going to run into. The chair served me well then, as it does now while I’m thinking through an epic fantasy I’d like to write.

I’m not limited to one place, or even one room, to write, however. I have notebooks and pens scattered around the house, and I’ve been known to write short stories in bed, haiku while sitting outside, and random notes wherever I am. I don’t require specific items or place to write, which means I can write whenever I want.

I have a dream room, though, one I’ll probably never have — an octagonal tower room with windows all around and a spiral staircase coming up from below. The lower part of each wall is lined with bookcases — some reference books, some I’ve written, some books written by friends. My desk sits so I can look out the windows at the neighborhood. (I haven’t figured out yet how to deal with glare on the computer screen.) It’s a lovely dream, anyway.

Today’s post was inspired by the topic “My favorite writing place”– March’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. Bonanno. 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!

Procrastination fears me . . . or not

Procrastination and I are old friends. The other day, for example, I was contemplating pushing aside the novel I was working on editing to go bake chocolate chip cookies. I even went so far as to mention it on Facebook.

I did set aside the edits, but only to work on getting “Rise of Kencha” put together and uploaded for sale.

That is my secret to dealing with procrastination, a trick I learned when I was writing a round-up article for Vision on productivity: procrastinate by doing other tasks that need to be done. Another instance from last week: the day after finishing up a proofreading job, I didn’t want to write, so I spent the day working on covers for books and stories.

This tactic works well for people like me, who always have a number of things underway. Trouble concentrating on a book? Try research, a different book, writing a flash, drafting a blog post, reading up on the industry . . . And this is why I set the goals I did this year: not specific things or specific times, just do something.

Of course, it doesn’t work perfectly. There are dozens of Webcomics I read every day (some actual Webcomics, some print comics that just happen to be available on-line as well), blogs I read, Facebook, Twitter, Fitz (a rather addictive Match-3 game), Bejeweled Blitz (ditto), Google +, Wikipedia . . .

And then there are the many non-writing things I procrastinate: housework, taxes, bills, even replacing holey jeans. It’s just so much bother, and there’s always something else I can do instead. Hmm . . . see what link salad Jay Lake put up today, or scrub the bathroom? Check on the latest themed anthologies and their deadlines, or read the latest IRS news for small businesses? No contest.

I do eventually get everything done, or at least the important stuff. And I’ve decided that’s good enough. I’m meeting goals, meeting deadlines, making progress. I’m trying to get “should” out of my vocabulary (as in, “I should do this”), but as long as it’s there, procrastination will be part of my life. I’ll just try to be productive while I do it.


Today’s post was inspired by the topic “Conquering procrastination”– February’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. Bonanno. 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!

An Ideal Reader

I like to make things for people, which you might realize if you’ve been following this blog for a while. There’s the quilt I’m working on for my son (and the quilt I gave to my niece a couple of years ago). Last month, I took time away from quilting to do some knitting and make the sweaters I showcased on the blog last week. I’ve made many afghans for friends over the years, and when I was in grad school, I was known to bake birthday cakes occasionally for people in our lab. There’s something very pleasing about giving somebody something that was made just for them, created with them in mind.

That being the case, it should make sense that I create stories and books with someone specific in mind, right?

Certainly other authors do: Stephen King, in On Writing, says he always writes with his wife in mind, and when she smiles as he’s reading, he knows he got it right. John Scalzi has said (for example, here) he writes science fiction with his in-laws in mind because he knows if they enjoy it, others who don’t primarily read SF will as well.

But the middle-grade horror that I wrote for NaNo this year? My son didn’t even like the premise of it and thought it wouldn’t be worth reading.

My husband, when he reads something I’ve sold that’s been posted on-line, invariably seems to sound surprised when he says it’s good. That’s when he comments.

My mom has given me feedback on stories ranging from “I really liked it” to “It certainly was different.”

Clearly, my family members are not my ideal readers, which left me convinced for a long time that I didn’t have anyone particular I wrote for. I just wrote the stories that appealed to me and hoped they would find readers out in the wild.

I still write things because they appeal to me, but I realized around the middle of December that I do have an ideal reader. My friend Bonnie, who has critiqued many a story for me, is the first one I think of when I want to share a snippet of something I’ve just written. When I wanted to know whether The Christmas Tree Farm Murders was ready to go, I asked her whether she would buy it in a store if she didn’t know me. She’s the one I bounce ideas of off, talk through plot problems with, and squee at when I have good news. She’s ideal because she loves my writing but won’t hesitate to tell me when something doesn’t make sense or doesn’t work.

I write for me, but she’s my barometer, and for that, I thank her.

Today’s post was inspired by the topic “My ideal reader”– January’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. Bonanno. 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!

X, Yarbro, Yelinek, Yolen

Here we are at the penultimate post in this series. I looked, but I couldn’t find any speculative fiction writers whose names started with X, and very few writers at all. So X clearly doesn’t mark the spot here. Perhaps another good choice for a pseudonym? Instead of X authors today, I’m skipping along to Y, with books by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro and Jane Yolen and a short story by Kathryn Yelinek. As always, if there are other books by these authors you’ve enjoyed — or other authors you think I should check out — please leave a comment. Continue reading

Holidays

The following short story exists solely because the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour topic this month is a writing prompt. Writing prompts mean stories, not posts, at least for me. So don’t fret if you don’t recognize the holiday, or if your holidays don’t go quite like this. Honestly, it’s better that way. Continue reading