writing | Heart of the Dreaming

Tag Archives: writing

Nov

Writing References: Hustlers, Harlots & Heroes

Posted in blog | Tagged getting taloned hurts a lot, rambly, references, slang, writing | Leave a comment

I had actually meant to post about this book several weeks ago when I was at Geek Girl Con, but better late than never. Anyway – I wish I’d found this particular resource much earlier – it would have definitely shortened some of my research time on certain things in my latest manuscript, but it’s still a really great overview of information if you’re writing Regencies/Steampunk type stories. (And it goes particularly well when paired with some historical slang or the dictionary of the vulgar tongue, might I add.) I’ve actually got another of Krista Ball’s , too – I mentioned it over on this post, (What King’s Ate and Wizards Drank) and it’s all about food prep, particularly in medieval times. Again – major eye opener if you’re a stickler to for details – particularly in fantasy when it seems like everyone’s eating tarts and pickled eels. And quite honestly, it’s… Read more

Apr

Cleansing of the Palate

Posted in blog | Tagged rambly, short story, submission, writing | Leave a comment

It’s been one of those odd mornings. I woke up at 5:30 and couldn’t go back to sleep, but I didn’t really want to get up either, so I was basically just laying there for while surfing the net on my phone. It’s sort of a lousy way to spend the time, but it wasn’t helped along much because I was getting a bit angry at some things and that tends to work up the hamsters in my brain and then there’s really no shutting it down. (I’m a slow boil, incidentally – it takes me a while to process. But I don’t want to blog about it because I don’t think it will accomplish anything other than to stir up things probably best left alone. ) At any rate, I finished up revisions on the new manuscript a couple of weeks ago and sent them back to my agent,… Read more

Feb

Weaving Threads

Posted in blog | Tagged cross-stitch, editing, Lucy, metaphoric crap that is supposed to mean something deep but probably doesn't, writing | Leave a comment

I’m not entirely sure what possessed me into thinking I might be able to teach a 7 year old the beginnings of cross-stitching. But we’re trying it anyway. I made some major headway with my revisions this weekend – so to reward myself I pulled out my current cross-stitch project. Which is enormous, on linen, and has a shit-ton of weird stitches, ribbon, mixed colors and blending filaments. (Think we’re only missing beads at this point, sheesh.) Lucy watched and wanted to help, but with a project as complicated as this, I really need to focus on where I’m putting the needle – I don’t want to screw it up and be forced to undo and redo the work. (And honestly, I think I’m gonna need a magnifying glass soon – linen holes are very hard to see for me, so the potential for miscounting is very high.) But Lucy… Read more

Dec

Waiting Game

Posted in blog | Tagged drafting, editing, waiting, writing | Leave a comment

There’s a certain sort of elation when it comes to finishing up a draft – usually followed by a few hours of bliss and then a period of “Now what?” Or in my case, I get to fight off a nasty cold. Usually it’s a combination of burning the candle at both ends and “let down.” (AKA my body going into relaxation mode after a period of extreme mental exertion. Plus Lucy had a cold/flu thing this past weekend, and I seem to have picked it up. Eh.) But as I mentioned in my previous post, even though a draft may be “finished,” it never really is. In this case, I wrapped up the edited draft at about 140k and then cut about 6k off of it, just searching for word echoes and repeating phrases and the like. I’m still not completely happy with the ending, but I know at… Read more

Dec

Lost in Rewrites

Posted in blog | Tagged creating, editing, taking foreverrrrr, writing | 4 Comments

There’s this question that writers tend to get often – how do you know when a story is finished? And the short answer is that it’s never finished. Not really. (It’s partially why I don’t go back and read my own books, to be honest. I always find places where I’d really like to go and change things. Maybe small things. Maybe big ones. Doesn’t matter, though – once that manuscript is off and done, that’s pretty much it.) That being said, I’ve been working on this new book. New project. Whatever it is. And I’ve mentioned it here and there on this site and the Word Whores blog from time to time. I’m late with it. It should have been done months ago – so I tend to feel a lot of guilt that it isn’t. (Blah blah, draft done in April, two surgeries and painkillers and just overall… Read more