Category: Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour

I forgot the title

  By ,

When I saw this month’s topic, I considered skipping the month. I mean, the obvious fears about publication — that no one will ever buy one of my stories, that I’ll be a one-hit wonder and never sell again, that I’ll never sell to a pro market — I’ve already gotten past by proving them wrong.

So what am I going to talk about? Nothing. Well, I will say that fears are always with us. Every writer I’ve ever heard talk about it is always worried that they can’t do it again, that their next work won’t be as good as their previous one, or won’t be as well received. Yet we go on.

I’ve had my share of angst lately — wanting to sell more frequently to pro markets, wanting to feel like I have a distinctive voice so others will look at something and say, “Oh, hell yeah, of course Erin Hartshorn wrote that” — but the truth is, even while feeling like this, I’m finishing up new stories, editing a novella, planning novels. Because even if I don’t see myself getting to where I want to go, the journey itself is worthwhile.

And now, in a lighter note, for my mom:

Today’s post was inspired by the topic “Publication” — September’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. Be sure to check out the next posts in the series, by Sandra Barret and D. M. Bonanno.

If you want to get to know nearly twenty other writers and find out their thoughts on first stories, 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!

Subscribe to my newsletter now — receive updates twice a month, including a newsletter-only serial and recipes:


Proactive protagonists

  By

This summer, we’ve gotten back into RPGs. Specifically, we’ve been playing 4th edition D&D with friends. My husband’s the DM (dungeon master, for those who may not be conversant with the lingo), our son’s playing a wizard, we’ve got a dwarven battle cleric and a halfling ranger, and I’m playing a paladin to round out the party.

Yesterday, we wandered into a room that had a trapped demon — which some wererats let loose. My paladin immediately moved to stand in front of the demon (and miss spectacularly with her radiant smite). When it was the demon’s turn, it attacked my paladin, as I said, “Because she volunteered.”

And that’s the kind of character I created — the strong arm who stands at the front of the fray in the path of evil to protect others. (At first level, this also meant that the cleric spent a lot of time healing my paladin who had fallen unconscious and was dying from one to three times per encounter.) The character who sees a problem and goes to face it, whether it’s rescuing innocents, talking diplomatically to the local council, or fighting the monsters. Sometimes, her actions aren’t effective, or even sensible (don’t ask why she buried her greataxe in a gilded throne), but she’s in there trying.

She also relies on the other party members — not just the cleric, but the ranger (deadly with her daggers and clever in her acrobatics) and the wizard (whose flaming sphere has saved the party more than once). If she tried to do anything on her own, she’d be just another dead and forgotten would-be hero.

I’m not always as good about making active characters when I write — they may dither over choices or examine every side of a situation or change their minds. But my paladin? She’s a protagonist to be proud of.

Today’s post was inspired by the topic “Protagonists” — 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. Be sure to check out the next posts in the series, by Sandra Barret and D. M. Bonanno.

If you want to get to know nearly twenty other writers and find out their thoughts on first stories, 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!

Subscribe to my newsletter now — receive updates twice a month, including a newsletter-only serial and recipes:


Honing the mind

  By

I hope I’m a better writer than I was ten years ago. I’ve worked at it, and along the way, I’ve had a few sales — which told me I was doing something right, even if it wasn’t consistent. So how do I work at it?

I read — fiction, to see what’s out there, to absorb story patterns, to see how other people have managed to deal with trick situations; nonfiction, to research, to find new ideas, to stretch my brain; and writing books, to try to absorb lessons specifically about how to do things.

And I write. Sometimes, I write in a binge. Others, I might manage a few hundred words a day for months. Sometimes, the count goes up. Sometimes it goes down.

As far as I know, those are the keys to being a writer: read and write.

Today’s post was inspired by the topic “Improving Craft” — June’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. Be sure to check out the next posts in the series, by Sandra Barret and D. M. Bonanno.

If you want to get to know nearly twenty other writers and find out their thoughts on first stories, 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!

Flexible life

  By

I post a lot about time, productivity, and balance. I’ve even opined before that it’s really more a question of juggling than of balance. Why do I talk about it so much? Because, like most people, I have multiple facets of my life, and I want to have time for everything. (Well, almost everything. For the most part, I don’t care about having time for housework.) That means writing, working, and family. Oh, and crafts, cooking, volunteering, and exercise. And…

You see the problem. Continue reading

Bloggers I read

  By ,

About ten years ago, I read every author’s blog I could find. I wanted to absorb everything I could about the business, about agent quests, about how others coped with disappointments, about the craft — pretty much, I wanted to learn everything about everything.

Over time, I’ve changed my blog-reading habits. I read more widely, and where I do read writers, it may not be for industry-specific advice so much as their perspective on the world.

Jamie Todd Rubin — This is my new go-to blog for everything. In addition to being a science-fiction writer, he’s also an Evernote Paperless Lifestyle Ambassador, holds a full-time job, and spends time with his family. His writing metric posts have encouraged me to work at writing every day, even if it’s just a little, even though I’ve been telling myself for years that I’m a binge writer. It’s probably going to take at least a year of trying this method of working to see how effective it is for me.

His focus on productivity has helped me learn more about how to use Evernote, as well as such services as Pocket (so I can read things later) and Buffer (so I can set up Tweets and Facebook posts for specific times).

Kristine Kathryn Rusch — Honestly, although I skim all of her blog posts, the ones that get my attention every week are the Business Rusch posts on Thursdays. She’s talked about everything from negotiating tactics to dealbreakers in contracts to literary estates to (her latest topic) discoverability.

Other blogs or newsletters? Tons — there’s Aeon for long reads, the Buffer blog with hints on productivity and social media, Co.Create with lots of information about creativity, Brain Pickings for more in-depth digging into books, Barking Up The Wrong Tree (which digs into how to make you better at life), and more. There are science-specific blogs, like Neuron Culture and Genotopia; writing blogs, like http://www.stevenpressfield.com; blogs of writers I know (you all know who you are!); blogs by big name writers who have no clue who I am and who talk about lots of different things (like John Scalzi and Chuck Wendig); blogs at the intersection of writing and law (namely Writer-in-Law and Passive Voice); at least one blog on language (Separated by a Common Language, on BrE/AmE differences); and more.

So what can we tell from my list of blogs?

  1. I like reading a lot of stuff. Okay, we probably knew that already.
  2. I still care about both the business and craft of writing, but I don’t have as much time to devote to reading about it (or possibly as much need, although that’s harder to say).
  3. I like reading blogs by entertaining people who talk about more than one thing.
  4. I want input on how to be both more productive and more creative.
  5. I have varied interests.

What about you? Do you have a favorite blog I should add to my list to check out?

Today’s post was inspired by the topic “Share 3 blogs you read regularly and why” — April’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. Be sure to check out the next posts in the series, by Sandra Barret and D. M. Bonanno.

If you want to get to know nearly twenty other writers and find out their thoughts on first stories, 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!

My uniqueness

  By

Rocky start this year with the Merry-Go-Round Tour. I missed the first couple of months completely, and I’m a day late with this one. Such is life.

Today, I’m supposed to talk about what, in marketing speak, would be my USP: unique selling point (or unique selling proposition). Yeah, I hate marketing speak.

Now, obviously, no two stories (barring plagiarism) are identical, so it stands to reason that by definition my stories are unique. On the other hand, everything fits into a genre and has relationships with other things in that genre. My cozy mysteries take place in a small town, the murders are solved by an amateur rather than the chief of police, and the cast of characters is full of quirks. My science fiction has spaceflight or aliens (or both); my fantasy uses magic and beings that don’t exist in our world.

So what would make someone who doesn’t know me pick up one of my stories rather than somebody else’s? What is it that I bring to the table? Continue reading

My 2013 favorites

  By

Let me start off with the caveat that, in general, I’m lousy at picking a favorite thing. (Daffodils being a notable exception.) I am much better at saying when I’ve enjoyed things. This is my current list of things that have caught my eye this year:

Novelette: The absolutely delightful “Pearl Rehabilitative Colony for Ungrateful Daughters” by Henry Lien in December’s Asimov’s.

YA: The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater, second book in her Raven Cycle; The Woken Gods by Glenda Bond; and David Bridger’s Flight of Thieves.

SF: Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie.

Anthologies: Manifesto UF, Oz Reimagined, Mad Science Café, Futuredaze, Mad Scientist’s Guide to World Domination (Yes, lots of choices here.)

Graphic novel series I’ve caught up on: Amulet by Kazu Kibuishi.

New graphic novel: Sandman: Overture.

Serials: Indexing by Seanan McGuire and Gooseberry Bluff Community College of Magic: The Thirteenth Rib by David J. Schwartz. There was also Scalzi’s Human Division, which I enjoyed until the ending that resolved none of the mysteries that had been raised.

Christian romance: Raspberries and Vinegar by Valerie Comer.

Christian fantasy: Greater Treasures: A DragonEye Novella by Karina Fabian.

Regency romance: Beneath the Mask by Margaret McGaffey Fisk.

I’ve read and reread a lot this year, from graphic novels to urban fantasy to middle-grade books to nonfiction. Some books I started but didn’t finish, simply because of time constraints. Some of the books I really enjoyed weren’t new this year, like The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin or most of the Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews.

I could do a whole other post on books I’ve been looking forward to but haven’t managed to read yet, like Kay Kenyon’s A Thousand Perfect Things, Prince of Lies by Anne Lyle, Twinmaker by Sean Williams, and books two and three of Emma Newman’s Split Worlds.

If you’d like to see the ones I’ve recorded as finished, you can see them on Goodreads.

There are also, of course, books I’ve proofread, indexed, or copyedited this year as paying work. One there that I think you should look out for is Alex F. Fayle’s The Other Half.

What have you been reading lately that you think I should check out? Any favorites I’ve forgotten?

Today’s post was inspired by the topic “2013 favorites” — December’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. Be sure to check out the next posts in the series, by Sandra Barret and D. M. Bonanno.

If you want to get to know nearly twenty other writers and find out their thoughts on first stories, 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!

Looking back

  By ,

Back in January, I talked about my grandiose plans for the year. Yeah, that didn’t work out so well.

I didn’t finish the fantasy novel yet, although I did submit it to Viable Paradise.

I’m still working on fine-tuning the next cozy mystery, and I haven’t started the other series I mentioned I was thinking about.

I haven’t written the other middle grade novels nor the Dreampunk series novellas.

In fact, the only things on the list I’ve managed were the application to Viable Paradise and getting The Christmas Tree Farm Murders into paper (but not audio).

Yet for all that, I feel I’ve made progress this year. I’ve isolated things to work on improving, I’ve tweaked my work flow, and I think I’m finally getting a handle on how much I can reasonably expect myself to get done in a given time frame (the fact that it will never be as much as I want is depressing but must be accepted).

I’m going to see how some of what I’ve learned shakes out over the next two or three months before I set solid goals for 2014. I think the one thing I’m sure of is hat hey won’t be as far-reaching as this year’s were.

How about you? At the 5/6 mark of the year, what are you still aiming to get done in the next couple of months?

Today’s post was inspired by the topic “2013 project review” — November’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. Be sure to check out the next posts in the series, by Sandra Barret and D. M. Bonanno.

If you want to get to know nearly twenty other writers and find out their thoughts on first stories, 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!

On research

  By

Let’s start off by admitting that I don’t have a routine for learning about things. I am a magpie, chasing the latest shiny thought, a bee that goes flower to flower to flower. I love learning new things (but not why I shouldn’t take a shower when my husband’s brewing beer — he uses water-cooling on the wort, which, as one should have expected, affects shower temperature in both directions as he turns it on and off), but I’m unpredictable in what sets me off.

I might wonder about the difference between salt mines and salt reclaimed from sea water, about the history of the salt trade, and how current medical ideas have changed its presence on our tables. (Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky is a good place to start for that series if questions.) Or I might decide I need to know more about the history of tea and check out all the books the library has on the topic, and read until my curiosity is sated.

I might decide to set a story in a particular type of factory — one I’ve never been in, of course. So I google images of that type of factory, looking for floorplans, labels for the specific parts, dimensions if I can get them. When I discover a cool part of the factory on a schematic, I then google for more information on how it works, doing my best to find details to bring it to life for others who haven’t been there — and to avoid being called out by those who have.

I wanted to write a story with a solar sail; I started at the NASA site, but also visited Wikipedia, the European Space Agency’s site, and read some news articles. The story’s still not done. I got sidetracked.

And that, sadly, is the drawback to being a magpie. If I only need a bit of information and can get it and move on to the writing, it works well. Otherwise, I run the risk of distraction and losing bits to my subconscious, where they languish, waiting or me to draw them out and use them.

Which means my method works well for two things: specific bits of information I want right now (which makes me a good person to ask if you need something looked up; my Google-fu is strong), and large, general background for flavor.

What kind of information have you found yourself looking for recently?

Today’s post was inspired by the topic “Research routines”– September’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. Be sure to check out the next posts in the series, by Sandra Barret and D. M. Bonanno.

If you want to get to know nearly twenty other writers and find out their thoughts on first stories, 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!