Miscon 32 – Year of Lost Heroes

The theme this year was prescient for 2018, eh? Montana did not let us down. The convention was once again a meeting of like-minded individuals mingling and making a family of strangers. There's a reason we attend this convention every year without fail. You won't find a nicer group of people anywhere. This was the … Continue reading Miscon 32 – Year of Lost Heroes

MisConMT 32 Interlude

This post interrupts our regularly scheduled recipe-sharing about the books that shaped us as we grew up. Hold that thought! Dan and I are headed up to Missoula for a few days of vacation, learning, socializing, and late-but-not-less anniversary fun at the SF&F convention! When I get back, I'll share what I learned with you … Continue reading MisConMT 32 Interlude

Secret Ingredients – 1

I'm starting a new series on here about the books that influenced me growing up. These are the books that shaped my brain. Gave me my fears, values, and passions. The Secret Julie Ingredients! E.B. White I can remember reading The Trumpet of the Swan and being delighted over watercress sandwiches. I can remember the … Continue reading Secret Ingredients – 1

40

The Cafe Irreal's Spring issue dropped today, and my name is folded between the pixelated pages with my flash fiction piece, 40. I originally wrote this as a twist story, but couldn't make it work. Since then, I've learned from John Adamus that a twist should surprise the characters more than the readers. Good advice, … Continue reading 40

Lily’s Contract

*throws confetti* This is the last installment! It's been 52 weeks! An entire year! I wrote the first draft of a novel by writing 500-800 words a week. You can do this, too. The draft needs a lot of work. Revising. Editing. Layering. But the bones are mapped out for me whenever I decide to … Continue reading Lily’s Contract

Catching Up

Penultimate - the last but one This is the penultimate post in my experiment with writing an entire first draft in public. I read on the twitters today that whistling in a theater is considered good luck because sailors were often employed as stagehands. They whistled to communicate, and their whistles kept the actors safe … Continue reading Catching Up

Old Friends

For most of the story installments, I've been able to cut the scene where it counts. Not so this time, so know that I know, and I'm sorry. This one lands with a clunk rather than a bell chime. First drafts are wild and unwieldy. The added restriction of trying to make each entry bite-sized … Continue reading Old Friends

Make It Rain

This is week 50, and I've got 51 & most of 52 written. I'm not happy about the dangly bits at the end of the story, and I'm having trouble bringing that last scene to a satisfying conclusion. That's the hazard of a first draft where I can't go back and tweak the past to … Continue reading Make It Rain

A New Job

Chewing the furniture. Wandering in circles with wild hair and wicked untrimmed toenails. That's a first draft, man. It is what it is, and if you can write a cleaner one, I dare you to do it. This one's about done, and it's been fun. I think I might be able to see the end, … Continue reading A New Job

“We”

*alarms blare* There are only five more installments of the first draft in public! For those of you out there who talk about writing a book or writing more or whatever - you CAN do it! Small bites. Little steps. One foot in front of the other. Good grief, I could write those all day, … Continue reading “We”