Not All Who Wander Are Lost

Life has seriously gotten in the way this past two months and exploded into nasty little bits of rubble over the last week. I've been pretty good about keeping the blog to primarily writing and marketing issues for the last couple of months, but there hasn't been a lot of writing going on these past two months. Sometimes it works that way. There are weeks when the words are flowing. You can barely keep up and the characters are at your shoulder cheering you one, telling you to type faster. Then there are weeks when you're as a fast as a turtle stampeding through peanut butter. Uphill. Then there are those weeks when there are no words. I've have had a no words week this week. My daughter's little Catholic school is in jeopardy of closing. So, the parents and the alumni and the staff are closing ranks and trying to beg for one more year. We were told last week. Told we needed 30 more bodies in the seats to stay open. Told we had 10 days in which to find them. I...

So, my latest project was supposed to be another novella and then a short story. I'd just finished up "Shades of the Fallen," a novella that takes place after "Ascent of the Fallen" and the arch angel Nathanial's tragic story was just waiting to be told. We learned a little bit about it in Ascent, but I was sure there would be more to it than just what Nathanial told Rue. I was right. I decided to set the story in Ireland during the Christianization, after St. Patrick's death. So, I dove into research and decided that it was going to be a nice little twenty page novella. Then, I thought, hmmm... the dark angel Semiazas who we met in Ascent is a very interesting character. I wonder what his story is? What could drive one of the first of the angels, and Simeon's brother, to make a deal with the devil and found the Fallen Isles. Well, then Semiazas's story and Nathanial's started to weave around one another. Then the demon Asmoday stuck his no...

Alright, I promised that I'd talk about the convention scene a little bit. So, here it is! I went to my first convention when I was a junior in high school. It was called Windycon (which, by the way, is still running strong) and it was right up by the Woodfield Mall. I found an ad for it in the back of my dad's Analog magazine and convinced him that he wanted to take Clare and I. Of course, Clare was coming along. If you've never been to a Con, let me try and paint a picture for you. Here we were, two sixteen year olds with my dad entering what looks like a normal hotel. Until you spy three Klingons strolling through the halls and the bellhops hurrying away with wide eyes. Then SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) aristocracy glides by waving a feathered fan. Long live the queen! Nowadays most Cons take over the entire hotel, to the dismay and entertainment of the hotel staff. There are times though when mundanes are in the hotel too. I remember one wedding party stop...

I will say that one of the most difficult things to do as an author is get someone to read the darn book! You've sweated over the prose. Polished the story, sent it off to beta readers and writing groups. You ripped it apart, rewrote it and then sent it off to a bevy of publishers and agents just to watch them toss it up in the air and use it for skeet shooting. After weathering the trials of rejection, resubmit and rejection again you've finally found a publisher. Someone is going to take your baby and do right by him. You get your cover and show the picture to everyone. Your kid gets irritated because your cover takes over her spot in your wallet for a while. You meet your editor and you go a round a three with them poring over every last word. Finally, though, finally, you get to hold that word baby in your hands and it's a wonderful feeling. Mostly because the gestation and labor on a book can be years. Makes that 30-something weeks for a kid a snap. You think your jo...

Alright, let's talk this week about one of the awful truths of the publishing industry. Rejection. Yep. It happens to the best of writers--and to the rest of us as well. For example, C.S. Lewis was rejected over 800 times before he finally found a home for his Narnian Chronicles. I got my first rejection letter when I was 16. It was for my Bonds of Blood, Bonds of Steel book. (More on that book's odyssey at a later date--when I feel up to it.) It was from TSR, which back then used to be in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and used to publish original fiction. Now, as most gamers know, TSR publishes only game tie-ins for their Forgotten Realms, D&D and WOTC lines. Ah well. I tried. I've gotten rejected by all the big names in both publishing and agents. In the 90's when I first starting trying to see my name in print, the big guys were the only game in town. So, I have very nice paper rejections from DAW, Del Rey, Tor, Little Brown and Company, and a host of other imprints. ...

It's been a long week on the pet front in this house. My fourteen year old beagle-German shepherd mix has been sick and I was really worried that it was the beginning of the end. He's ok, by the way. Well, as ok as a furry old man can be when the temperatures dip below freezing. However, I realized on the way back from the vet yesterday that with one exception, none of my characters have pets. Robyn, in The Star Circle Trilogy , is the only exception to that. In book one The Shattered Prism , she rescues a kotu, a little squirrel-like critter with Fennic fox like ears. She names him Jeric and the little rodent sticks with her like a cocklebur. None of my other characters in all of my other books don't have any pets which I thought was odd because I love my dogs. Alright, one other character in The Star Circle Trilogy gets turned into a cat, but she wasn't anyone's kitty. I realized it's because honestly to be a main character in a book your life kind of has...

I love the musical Les Miserable and I've seen it several times in several different theaters from several different vantage points. The first time was when I was in high school and the only seat I could afford was second row in the nosebleeds. I loved every second of it. Years later, same theater. same play, much different seats--fifth row orchestra. It wasn't nearly as magical this time around. When I was back in the nosebleed section I couldn't see the structure of the performance only the story. When I was up close I could see every wire, every microphone and the artificiality of the make up. That was the problem--I could see those behind the scenes details and it ruined the illusion for me. Something to keep in mind for writing. Every author should think about structure. Whether they're a plotter with meticulous timelines, maps and outlines or a pantser who knows pretty much where things are going, but no clue how to get there, we all need to think about the stru...