Monthly Archives: November 2010

Nov
5

Blurbage

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The final cover for Brush of Darkness was released the other day – not that anything about it has really changed – but now I’ve got a blurb on the cover. (From Kelly Gay, in fact. Go read her The Better Part of Darkness series – you won’t be disappointed. She’s got a tasty siren man. NOM) The idea of blurbing has always sort of amused me. It’s nice because you’ve got a bit of cross-promotion thing going on for the other author (especially if said author quote ends up on the cover). On the other hand, it’s probably why so many authors have to be careful where their name ends up. If the book turns out to be a stinker or has some sort of controversy attached to it then it may not be the best thing to have your name attached to. Also, if your blurbs end up… Read more
Nov
3

Falconry

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My two main cats, Killian and Jake, are primarily outdoors these days, but in the fall and winter months I let them in at night when the temp starts dropping. (And being that Killian is nearly 15 years old now, I suspect he’s going to be spending more time indoors in general – I feed him separately indoors most of the time now as it is to make sure he gets enough.) Of course, over the years we’ve had many cats come by and nibble on the leftovers. Some are just passing through and are clearly pets. Some are strays and some are feral. We had one stray, dubbed “Spots” who showed up nearly two years ago with a broken tail and very skinny. She’s pretty fat now and very gentle. (I let her in during the massive snow storms last year for several weeks.) Sadly enough I haven’t seen her… Read more
Nov
2

Who Peed on the Pumpkin?

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I’m actually too tired to blog today, but I did find this particularly weird children’s book. According to the summary at Amazon: Who would pee on poor Pumpkin, just sitting there grinning and minding his own business? Follow the mystery of possible tricksters who might be responsible. Was it Owl? Was it Toad? Was it Ghost? Who is this trickster? Do you know who? Of course, we may never know who peed on the pumpkin, with a price of $24.95. Seriously. WTF is up with that? Actually, after digging a little deeper, this does turn out to be a real bit of WTFkery, as the book was “published” by PublishAmerica. Kinda sad, really.… Read more
Nov
1

NaNoWriMo Advice

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I’m not writing NaNoWriMo this year – my schedule just doesn’t allow for it (and deadlines for paid writing have to come first.) That being said, I figured I’d give out what little bit of advice I figured out when I participated last year. 1) You get out of it what you put into it. If your goal is to crank out those 50k and then sit back when you’re done, that’s one thing. If you’re looking to kick-start a story or start up the good habit of writing every day, that’s another thing all together. 50k isn’t a novel by any stretch, but if participating in NaNo helps you in the long term, then that might be a better goal than just finishing up with all the words. 2) Writing in packs: This works for some people, and there can be something wonderful about a group energy – comparing… Read more