mutter.

I do not want to be writing. :p I’m pretty sure that this is more because I’ve done about 15K in the past 3 days and yet somehow I’m Still Not Done than it is about having messed the book up (often not wanting to write means I’ve done it wrong, but in this case I think my butt is just numb and is affecting my brain), but man, I don’t want to write. So part of my brain is trying to tempt me with Other Projects (“It’ll be more…

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Shaman Rises cover reveal!

I thought I’d start the new year off right, with a cover reveal for SHAMAN RISES, the final book of the Walker Papers! Would you like to know all the reasons this cover is terrific? Let me tell you all the reasons it’s perfect! First: the colors. My publisher’s always been very good about discussing colors with me, and I very much wanted the final book in the series to have a light, bright look in direct and deliberate contrast to the first book’s cover. So what do I get?…

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my best(worst) critique ever

Back at the start of the century (!) I submitted a manuscript to a writing contest, which I finaled in and went to the conference the contest was associated with, because finalists got to meet an editor and I wanted a professional opinion on whether what I was doing was any good. Finalists also wore little ribbons saying they were finalists in their genre. The SF/F ones were yellow. A woman came up to me and said, “Oh! You’re a SF&F finalist! Were you one of mine? I’m one of…

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Magic & Manners: Chapter Three

With ongoing apologies to Jane Austen, and a wish for all to have a Happy Midwinter Holiday, I present to you the third chapter of MAGIC & MANNERS, which is what happens when I get it into my head to wonder what PRIDE & PREJUDICE would be like if it was not a lack of wealth that beleaguered the Bennet sisters, but rather an excess of magic… Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three lies behind the cut. :)

the travails of writing

So a couple nights ago I sat down to work on STONE’S THROE and came to a moment when I needed to describe Amelia’s motorcycle. I went looking for a picture, and…well, I found one. Except it became clear as I read about it that the in-character-defined motorcycle…basically didn’t exist. Even in 1917. It was essentially a prototype, hand-built in 1909 by a kid in Italy to pursue a racing career. Over the next fifteen years or so he developed a line that went into mass production in the 20s…

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