Point of View

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POINT OF VIEW: Into the Unknown

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We’re on the cusp of great change. You can feel it in your bones. The old world order is rattling around like a bunch of dry bones in a box, and the world itself is splitting at the seams. In my own little writing world, things are being remade anew too. And in both, no one knows what form the new thing that’s coming will take. Writing at its heart is an act of both destruction and creation. As writers, we take something we know – the world around us – and break it down into its component parts, rending … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: A New Direction

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So it’s a new week, and a new direction. Regular readers of this column (thanks Mom and the other two of you!) will know I’ve been struggling with my direction as an author since I finished my two trilogies, Liminal Sky and The Oberon Cycle. I have a completed manuscript for Dropnauts – book four in the Liminal Sky series, but after failing to snag a mentor in Pitch Wars, finding out another potential mentor just didn’t get my work, and getting only one agent response for three Twitter pitch events (who later rejected the work), I’ve been a bit … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: The Joys of Reading

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I’ve forgotten how good it feels just to read. It seems ironic that I’m a writer who doesn’t read anymore, doesn’t it? It’s like a chef who never bothers to taste any cooking other than his own. Or an artist who never visits an art gallery. I have no time. My work life is severely regimented. I’m one of those incredible overachievers with a truly disgusting work ethic, spared only from relationship ruin by the fact that my amazing husband works right here in the trenches beside me. Last year, I shared here that I’d found little bits of time … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: Changing the Story

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Autumn Lands

I’m struggling this year. Struggling in my work life and as an author. So many things have gone pear-shaped these last few months, and it’s all left me in a strange no-man’s land, not quite sure where to go next. In my writing life, I finished two trilogies, and wrote a new novel with the intent of sending it out to snag an agent. I wrapped it up five months ago, and three agents, two denials and a failed attempt at Pitch Wars later, I still have no clear path. It’s left me questioning… well, just about everything. So I … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: Fear vs. Hope

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It’s natural to be scared. I wake up every morning dreading what’s to come. The laws of gravity seem to have been overturned sometime in the last few years, and now up is down and down is up. We ignore climate change at our own peril, willfully and blindly, and instead fight political battles where one side brings a knife and the other brings a nuclear bomb. And tech companies continue their rampant disruption of everything we thought we knew, ripping up old social contracts with reckless abandon and questioning everything. Even truth. It’s natural to be scared. But then … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: When There Is No Time to Write

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My life is a carefully choreographed series of to-do lists. My to-dos on any given day are long enough to give even the most stalwart of to-doers pause, and only gets done through a strict daily application of effort and productivity that I have… well, not exactly perfected. But cobbled together in a fashion that usually works for me. But sometimes something (or somethings) come along to topple that intricate edifice, and everything goes to hell. Welcome to 2020. Although I have a better handle on my workload than I have in a long time there is, quite simply, too … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: When the Future is Gray

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May you live in interesting times. It’s an old, oft-quoted curse (though probably NOT of Chnese origin) that turns something good on its head and makes it something decidedly bad. And one that seems particularly apt for our own time. We’re hurtling headlong into the future with many of the things sci fi always promised us – computers that fit into our pockets, cars that drive themselves, and a global connection through social media that surpasses anything Asimov or Clarke ever imagined. Tthough I’m still waiting for my flying car, dammit! And yet instead of a futuristic utopia filled with … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: I Have a Plan (Sort-Of)

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It’s been about four months since I sat down consistently to write every day There are reasons: I finished my novel Dropnauts and started to put some energy into using it to level up We ramped up for a new website launch for our main business, and it took a lot of time and energy My leveling up plans kinda fell apart, and I’ve been a bit adrift The holidays So I’ve been at loose ends with my writing these last few months. I’ve also been unsure as to what I want to write next. I’ve kicked around the idea … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: When Fans Become Friends

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We live in a particularly fascianting age (mostly in the purported Chinese curse “may you live in interesting times” kinda way). Social media has brought a heaping helping of crap and bullshit upon our heads, divided us into rival camps, and possibly destroyed the world in the process. And yet, it’s not all bad. Once upon a time, authors lived in magical, isolated castles by the sea (or more likely dark, dank, author caves buried deep in decaying metropolises). In any case, they were largely cut off from their readers, save for the occasional fan letter forwarded by a publisher, … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: It’s a New Year

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It’s 2020 and time for the obligatory “goals for the new year” column. But let’s flip that on its head and instead put some hope out into the world. So for 2020, I hope that: My country and the world will find a way back to some form of sanity. My friends in the UK will find a way to make their new reality (post-Brexit) work. RuPaul will have an outstanding season of Drag Race. I will find a way to reach out and connect to friends and family I disagree with, and find some common ground. Mark and I … Read more