‘Four Thousand Weeks,’ which at first appears to be a time management book, but in actuality is about humanity’s entire relationship with time itself, blew my mind. It definitely made me think about how I’m using my time. It also made me realize I was stressing myself out way too much over things I cannot control and that don’t ultimately matter much to my overall happiness and the structure of …
Last night, my friend Tammy presented to our writing group on the subject of ‘Embracing Authenticity and Personal Growth,’ and it was illuminating. One of the exercises we did helped us identify our core values. A lot of people wrote a long list, but I found that when I thought about it, there were four that really spoke to me. When asked to, I ranked them in that order, but …
It’s been four years, almost exactly, since I devoted myself to writing full time. And, in many ways, it’s gone well, even if I am by no means a bestseller. I’ve written eight books in those four years, and released five of them, with two more to come out later this year. And I’ve learned some things along the way, mostly about how my process works (or doesn’t). So, …
5 Things I’ve Learned About Writing Since Doing it Full Time Read More »
It’s been kind of a weird month. I’m back in the word mines, trying to write 2500 words a day, four days a week, plus a weekly blog post. The first week went well. I ended up with about 11,000 words plus the blog post, which felt like progress. This last week didn’t go so well, since we had several days of appointments, plus I am dealing with the return …
There’s been a lot of hubbub lately both online and in the media about the new AI tools that have been created. It started out with art, and then moved into the realm of writing, with the coming of various tools that are supposed to be able to generate original content. Reactions have been varied. Some people have embraced these tools as the wave of the future. Others have drawn …
I’ve written before how hard the end of last year was for me. I’d accomplished a lot in 2022, but none of it seemed like it was going anywhere. Then I failed to place in a contest and, on the same day, got back some constructive criticism on my novella, and that was more than I could absorb at once. I realized something. There is an indefinable quality some people …
It has been a crazy couple of weeks. I have a lot going on right now, and life has been kind of chaotic. I have been babysitting my grandkids a lot, which usually means spending nights at my parents’ house. I was also in the process of preparing to move. My parents own my house, and needed to sell it, but my boyfriend and I decided, for a variety …
Every once in a while, I write about the things I am enjoying, and good things that have happened to me. So, here is another installment of Things that are Making Me Happy Right Now Last Exit by Max Gladstone Last Exit is an urban fantasy with serious Dark Tower vibes. Ten years ago, a band of young companions explored a series of parallel worlds. But things went wrong, …
50. Oof. It’s here. I didn’t believe it would actually arrive, or rather, I’d hoped it wouldn’t. I guess I’d hoped to stay in some sort of liminal space, not dying but not getting any older, either. Of course, that option is denied to us, and in that, I am not special. And now that it’s here, I feel … fine? I did not, upon waking on the …
Portrait of the Writer as a (No Longer) Young Man Read More »
I have been in love with story since before I even knew what it was, before I could separate fiction from reality (jury’s still out on how well I can do that). My parents and grandparents read to me from the time I was an infant. My grandmother disliked the nastier details involved in some fairy tales, so instead she read me A.A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh stories, so these …