writing things

I thought I was caught up on Nanowrimo, but then it turned out I just had the date wrong. Still, nearly caught up. No idea at *all* if my nephew will like the book, but at least I’m trying. I also have…rather a lot of story to accomplish in the remaining 25-30K. I think I was at the end of chapter 15, the nominal halfway point, at 34K, so theoretically it’s going to come in around 68K. Which is only about 10K more than I was aiming for. I’m sure…

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We loved you, Dragonlady.

Robert Heinlein’s TUNNEL IN THE SKY. Robin McKinley’s THE BLUE SWORD. Anne McCaffrey’s DRAGONSONG. Those are the first three books I specifically remember reading as science fiction and fantasy. They weren’t; I’d been reading SF&F in the guise of children’s books for many years, but they’re the first I recall as genre-specific. I loved them all, but I loved DRAGONSONG and Menolly beyond reason. I had–who are we kidding, still have–a crush on Robinton, on Sebell. I still want a fire lizard. I always will. I met Anne McCaffrey the…

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I don’t even know which book she’s reading.

But I just got a *lovely* compliment from a friend of mine, who said on Twitter “CE Murphy is wonderfully unkind to her characters, and you understand why they’re making this mistake even as you get that it’s a bad idea.” That is by far one of the nicest things anybody’s ever said about my writing. :) The understanding more than the unkindness, I know I’m awful to my poor characters, but it’s so nice to see that the motivations are making sense. Clarifying motivation in characters does not come…

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unexpectedly good!

Yesterday was an unexpectedly good writing day. Ted took on the role of Primary Caregiver (which he’s very good about doing at the weekends so I can work), and in a desperate bid to not get further behind on Nano, I wrote 1800 words on it in the morning. Then, because Faith was due back from holidays today, I scrambled to try finishing “Easy Pickings” in the afternoon so she could have a look at it and we could maybe get that baby out into the world. And lo, I…

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