2016 is going to be a huge year for me, with the release of Spells of Blood and Kin in June. And 2014 was a huge year, too: the year I signed with my wonderful agent Connor, the year he made the sale. A year of leveling up. 2015, then, was a bridge year in some ways: a year to consolidate my gains, to do all the work I could to make sure this next phase in my writing life will be a successful one. Timelines in writing are very long compared to some kinds of work: even more than a year, in my case, between deal and launch. I came to learn that it’s very useful time! Edits, proofing, and a lot of other associated tasks took a lot of it. And of course, other projects need to be in the pipeline–my next book, plus some short stories, although the time I’ve spent on those has dropped a lot since the novel has to take priority. Like most working writers, I also have a day job–which is understating it a bit; I have a career which I love, and which is sometimes demanding. Between this, family events, and cons, […]
2013 in Review(s)
2013 has been an excellent year for me, writing-wise. I’ve sold more stories this year than the last three put together. I’ve learned how to finish stories faster, instead of letting them linger for months in the second-draft stage. I’ve cracked some new markets—really aspirational ones, too. I have also had at least one entire month go by without writing at all, and I’ve failed to make any progress on Draft 2 of my second novel, although I did cap off Draft 1 in an awesome two-week binge last winter. I continue to spend too much time looking around the internet for mentions of my work, time that I should spend honing my craft and reading others’ stories instead. I have a lot to learn about this business. Each hill I crest shows me a wider landscape to map. I’m pretty proud of my 2013 output though. Here are the new stories of mine that came out this year: “The God-Seed” (Crossed Genres, July)Walking up Genesee Road in the country dark, I thought I was seeing the northern lights. Rose-coloured streaks, twisting upward, half-obscured stars on the far side. I stopped and threw my head back to look. Then I […]
Novel Enduro: The Finish Line
Done. Wait, let me say that again: DONE. 80,000 words of PURE GENIUS. Yeah: 80,000… despite word counts of more than 2k new stuff per day yesterday and today. I took out a lot of faffing about, especially from the beginning. And here we see the problem with the Pantsing Method: when I started writing this book I had no clue at all where it was going. I wrote a lot of scenes that ended up being character background–worthwhile work for me, but not stuff that really needs to be in the final version, as it has the effect of slowing down the action. So I actually have a 20-item list of things to fix in the next draft, but they feel like next-draft things: strengthening certain thematic threads, punching up some of the action scenes, reading through the dialogue to improve the voices (something I seem to have a problem getting right out of the gate). It’s possible there are continuity issues, because I haven’t done a proper date-map yet. And it’s even possible there will be a character streamlining–I have a few secondary people who all seem to be doing the same job. But the important thing is […]
Novel Enduro: Day VIII
79,000 words. Two new scenes left to write, maybe three. Not with a bang, but a whimper (from the author, who’s continually surprised at how fucking emotionally draining it is to end a book!) Horrible things: how hard it is to write romantic scenes without slipping into Hollywood tropes. I haven’t had much practice, I guess… in my previous novel, there wasn’t a central love relationship, just a bit of dating. Beautiful things: getting one of those scenes right, I think! Also, some more bits with magic, always fun. Tonight’s homework: going through a year’s worth of notes from my writing group because I’m almost positive there’s a great suggestion in there about a specific missing scene I should write, and I can’t remember what it is. And being a very orderly person, I’d like to write that missing scene before I write the two final scenes, because once those are done I’d like to go celebrate, instead of messing around some more. Also, today’s win: Beyond Binary is nominated for a Lambda Literary Award! […]
Novel Enduro, Days VI & VII
I didn’t have time to post Monday because I had an urgent need for a pint with my husband at Bar Volo at day’s end. I did, however, hammer in another 2000 words, bringing that day’s total to just over 77,000. Sadly, it’s still there as of today. I put in hours of work to keep it there, too. I deleted several vestigial, useless or outdated scenes, and the new words I added were just barely enough to keep the total count on track. I don’t think this novel is going to be quite 90k, but it is still going to be done by the end of the week: I have about five scenes left to write, and none of them contain land mines as far as I can tell. I’ve also had a flurry of other writing-related activity, including both success and failure, which I can’t share at this time, and only mention in order to provide context for why today was another low-count day. I can see this being quite a time-sink for a full-time writer. As my own publishing history grows, and my involvement with the SF community with it, I find myself with a lot of […]
Novel Enduro: Day V
In the spirit of public accountability, I’m posting even though this day has NOT gone as well as the others. Today’s word count: 1263.Total word count: 75,250 of 90,000.Percent completion: 83.6%. Beautiful things: bike couriers, hand-pulled noodles at Pacific Mall. Horrible things: everyone wants you to talk about things and you just want to whack-a-mole every single thought that surfaces in your brain. Favourite sentence: “It was the voice he used on both Gavin and Asta, when they were sleepy or sick and had to be coaxed.” What went wrong with this day: Late start due to unavoidable obligation; rewrote the same scene four or five times before getting it even close; deleted another scene entirely, cancelling out a bunch of word count. Interesting note: judging by where I am right now, this novel isn’t actually going to hit 90k. I think I’m closer to the end of the action than that. Which is fine. I’ll just throw in some more sex 😉 […]
Novel Enduro: Day IV
Today’s word count: 3832. Can I just say how awesome I feel about this?Total word count: 73,987 of 90,000.Percent completion: 82%. Beautiful things: Martin, who is still hot; um, that’s all, the rest was pretty ugly Horrible things: zombie raccoon! Which explodes! I was so pleased with this I immediately put it on Twitter. So if there’s a rash of exploding zombie raccoons in your slush, you’ll know who to blame. Favourite sentence: “Gavin’s spirit mantled like a hawk, ready to rend.” Reason for stopping: eggplant. Fetishes: wooden ring on index finger: Bellwoods bottlecap necklace. Sustenance: soy maple lattes, a god-awesome sandwich with tempeh, kimchee and Baconnaise, a pint of Bellwoods’ Roman Candle IPA. Playlist highlights: Matt Mays, “Take It On Faith”; Cat Power, “Ruin”; Esthero, “Walking On Eggshells”. Warnings That Must Go On the Tin: Mum, you can’t read this book. Even if I forget and try to give it to you. It has too many zombie things which you would not like, plus bad driving, and ‘fuck’ at least once in every chapter. […]
Novel Enduro: Day III
Today’s word count: 3001. I really know how to nail that, apparently.Total word count: 70,126 of 90,000.Percent completion: 78%. Beautiful things: heartbeats; the Bentley Continental GT Horrible things: zombie sedan! Favourite sentence: “Painkillers didn’t kill the pain so much as put it on a nearby shelf, where it sat glowering over him until it could come close again.” Reason for stopping: Lapdogs pub night. Fetishes: South African bead bracelets, and pink shirt, because it’s Pink Shirt Day. Sustenance: white peach tea, olive bread, olive oil. Playlist highlights: Airmech. Again. […]
Novel Enduro: Day II
Today’s word count: 4295!Total word count: 67,175 of 90,000.Percent completion: 74.6%. Beautiful things: stair-spindles, winter grass, bright scraps, wallpaper flowers. Horrible things: Terrence’s people in hospitals, Terrence’s poor lungs. Favourite sentence: “His spirit saw it too: Chicago in all of itself, under the sun.” Reason for stopping: to write this blog post, because that’s what I felt like doing. Fetishes: South African bead bracelets. Sustenance: the rest of the corn chips, more grilled cheese, more Picholine olives, little tomatoes, soy maple latte. Playlist highlights: Airmech by Front Line Assembly. (Why does my novel about urban magicians require its soundtrack to be a concept album about mecha? I don’t know! The mysteries of creativity!) Bonus: although Tybalt mostly prefers the cat tree, he also napped on my copy of The Waste Land. Cute and literary! […]
Public Accountability: The Novel Enduro Begins
Today begins a two-week writing marathon. My (rather ambitious) goal is to finish my novel-in-progress. Here’s a screen shot of my current stats (from Scrivener): 30,000 words to go; 10 business days to do it in. That means 3000 words a day. Folks, I’ve never written that much, that fast. But I have another novel lined up behind this one, which I really want to get started on; I’m thirty-seven and not famous yet; I’ve carved out this space from a demanding day job; and the only way out is through. Materials: Scrivener; my trusty Lenovo which I got at the end of last year’s novel enduro; a new pair of yoga pants; typing fingers; playlists. Plus a new cat tree, meant to keep the cats off my desk (wish me luck). Cuing up my playlists… pouring the coffee… wrapping a scarf around my neck… and GO. […]