Point of View

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POINT OF VIEW: For the Love of Words

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Scott Millennium Falcon

I was a chatty, cheerful kid who loved words – speaking them, reading them, and even writing them. When I was in first grade, I joined the GATE (Gifted and Talented Education) Program. It was something that happened only because of a bit of childhood fraud on my part. On my way home from school in kindergarten, the teacher had given me a note to take home to my parents. I was not much of a reader yet, but I scanned the words, pretending to understand it, and the teacher noticed. A few weeks later, I was being tested for … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: Off in Another Direction

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Crossroads - Pixabay

So here I go again. I’ve tried so many paths on the way to becoming a successful author that I feel like I oughta be a trail guide: I tried the traditional publisher path, selling my stories to four or five small-to-midsize publishing houses. I’ve tried the hybrid route, where some of my books are sold through “trad” publishing and some are independently published. I’ve tried the fully self-pubbed option. I’ve gone narrow with Amazon and Kindle Unlimited I’ve gone wide with B&N, Kobo, Apple and Google Play, and even wider through bookstores and libraries via Ingram Spark. And I’ve … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: Back to My Roots

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Mom and Scott

This weekend I’ll be releasing a brand new short story – one that’s never been published before anywhere. It’s called Prolepsis: pro·lep·sisthe representation of a thing as existing before it actually does or did so, as in he was a dead man when he entered. It’s a time travel story of sorts (though it’s only the mail that makes the trip back in time) about a sci-fi ‘zine whose editor is gay. The bulk of the story takes place in the fall of 1986, when I was eighteen. Although the protagonist is twenty-six, I drew on a lot of my … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: Looking Down the Mountainside

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Looking Down the Mountain - Deposit Photos

It’s been a long, hard couple years. Mark and I do our best to find a little hope and joy every day, but it’s not easy in this environment of pandemic, fear, and hostility. And the writing life’s not easy either. As a writer, I sometimes fall down the black hole of disappointment. I haven’t worked hard enough. I haven’t climbed high enough. I haven’t progressed far enough in my career. By now, I’d hoped I would be a household name, with a big NYC agent, a series on Netflix, and a royalty check which would allow me to keep … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: Waiting for the Light

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Lightbulb Idea Rainbow - Deposit Photos

Anyone who regularly reads my newsletter knows I’ve been working on my Dragon Eater trilogy for five hundred years a very long time. I’d originally intended to query agents for the first book while I worked on the second, but my editor pointed out that I already essentially had the first two parts of the story in the first one, and so I should just split them in two and start on the final part. So I did, and sent the first book out to query. Then I started on the third one, and have been working slowly through it … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: Dancing Between Your Ears

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River City Chronicles audible

My third audiobook release is coming out in November! The first one was for The Autumn Lands, done by the amazing Vance Bastian. The second, for my novella Cailleadhama, was narrated by Drew Bacca. Now I’m about to release the audiobook version of The River City Chronicles – my magical realism “circle of friends” tale that’s my love letter to Sacramento. It’s narrated by the talented Michael Lysan. And speaking about magical realism, there’s something magical about hearing your story come to life in the voice of a gifted narrator. Like when you see a film based on a book … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: Doesn’t Remind Me of Anything…

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Chili Cheesecake - Deposit Photos

I like studying faces in a parking lot Cause it doesn’t remind me of anything I like driving backwards in the fog Cause it doesn’t remind me of anything –Audioslave, Doesn’t Remind Me I was talking with my art teacher from high school on Facebook Messenger the other day – what an amazing world we live in. I forget that sometimes when I get bogged down in doom scrolling the daily horror show. But I digress. She showed me some of the art she’s been making lately. They were beautiful – one of a hand clutching a fist-full of dandelions, … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: The Long Bleak August of the Soul

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Green Plant in Bleak Desolation - Deposit Photos

It’s been a bad month. Out in the world, fires are burning up the very trees we need to slow climate change, sending clouds of choking smoke into the air and filling the Sacramento valley with a nasty orange haze. Hurricanes are supercharging over the gulf and bringing torrential rains to the places that need it least, flooding people out of their homes. Religious extremists are taking over a country and shoving women and gays back into their respective closets. Covid, in the form of the cursed “Delta Variant,” rages on against a backdrop of idiocy, hatred, horse dewormer, and … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: Keeping Track of All the Details

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Series Bible

I was just a part of a great online panel on story bibles. “What’s a story bible?” you ask. It’s a great way for a writer to keep track of all the nitty-gritty details of a story or series. The longer you write in a given universe, be it sci-fi, fantasy, or a sweet magical contemporary set in the eastern end of Sacramento, the details pile up quickly: Character Details: Hair color, eye color, height, race, history, relationships and personal tics. Place Details: Stores and restaurants, real and imagined. Neighborhoods. Moon bases or starships or enchanted cities. Cultural Details: What … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: Writing in a Time of Chaos

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chaos - deposit photos

Damn, it’s been a week. The earth is shaking, a country is falling, and a virus is surging across the land. Mark and I find ourselves trapped inside our house again, staring out the windows at the excessive heat (and sometimes the wildfire smoke) and feeling like it’s 2020 all over again. My writing is in a shambles. Or maybe it’s not. I’m in the second third of the third book in a trilogy. I’m too close to it and I just can’t tell anymore. I am actually writing, but it’s too soon to know how it’s really going. Welcome … Read more