developing a book proposal

Earlier this year, before acquiring an agent, I wrote a very short, like back-of-book-blurb, romantasy proposal that I sent to an editor I had access to. She asked for a full proposal (a full synopsis, 3 chapters), and that’s been on a back burner while I’ve been doing a thousand thousand other things. But yesterday I got to get started on it, and… I’ve talked often about how I tend to get to the 1/3rd mark in any book, no matter how long, and hit a wall that I have…

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The Great Tisane Experiment

My workplace is, as you will no doubt have heard me complain vociferously if you follow me elsewhere, Cold. I am colder in general in Ireland than I was in Alaska, which Irish people keep telling me is due to it being a wet cold, but as I’m colder inside rather than outside, I think the fundamental problem is a combination of lousy insulation and a radically different idea as to what constitutes an acceptable indoor temperature. (And the outside door, which I am unfortunately close to, just stuck open.…

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how many words is that, anyway?

Whilst I was being celebratory about 50 published books, one of my friends asked how many words that was, anyway. Anybody wanna take a guess? (You can put it in the comments BEFORE you finish reading this post. I’ll put some spoiler space in, or something. :)) The thing is, I used to have a pretty good idea, actually. I’d kinda kept track up through the end of the publication of the Walker Papers, but that was…a while ago now. So I had to go add it up. And I…

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is this thing on?

*tap, tap* is this thing on? Apparently long-form blogging is simply no longer something I do, which is sad. Well, I guess it’s sad. There’s no audience for it, is the thing. My audience is on Twitter, mostly, these days, and to a lesser degree, Facebook, but FB’s algorithms…well. You know how it is. I’ve been very, very busy this year. So far I’ve done copy & line edits on DEATH OF AN IRISH MUMMY, revised SKYMASTER & LIBRARIAN BEAR, did copy edits etc on BEAR, written 13k of the…

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Very Exciting Developments!

One might imagine, from six weeks of radio silence, that I have been busy. One would be correct. But there have been some Very Exciting Developments in that time! First off, I’ve gotten a studio to work in! It’s part of an artist’s collective, extremely convenient to my son’s school, and, as my husband said, “Bohemian enough to suit your sensibilities.” (I pointed out that I’m really not very bohemian, and he said, “No, but you want to be,” which is perfectly true. :) The collective has a Studio Cat.…

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