Point of View

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

POV: Writing Down the Bones

by
Scott - Writing Down the Bones

Even authors need occasional refresher courses and inspiration. On those occasions, there’s one book I’ve had for a long time, that I like to dip into to remind me why I became a writer, and that suggests little exercises to do to train my writing muscles. It’s called “Writing Down the Bones,” by Natalie Goldberg, and it’s full of great musings on writing and things to try to free up your creative reflexes. A random selection of chapter topics: Fighting Tofu We Are Not the Poem Writers Have Good Figures Don’t Marry the Fly Blue Lipstick and a Cigarette Hanging … Read more

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

POINT OF VIEW: Plotting My Revenge

by
Scott - Muwahahaha

* maniacal laughter in background * Hey all, Okay, so my next novel, “The Rising Tide,” is now out the door to the publisher. Which brings me to my strange new year, in which I will be writing the third and final books for not one but two trilogies – “Liminal Sky” and “The Oberon Cycle.” Final books are where everything gets accounted for… all the little loose threads must be identified and wrapped up, the good guys get their win (usually), and the bad guys get what’s coming to them. I am diving into Ithani this week (the final … Read more

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

POINT OF VIEW: Things I’m Thankful For

by
Thankful - pixabay

Hey all, In light of the fact that Thanksgiving has just come and gone, I thought I would reflect on the things I am thankful for as a writer. First and foremost, my husband Mark, who has always been supportive of my writing, and who gave me the kick in the ass to get things going again, back in 2013. Love you! Second, I am grateful that I somehow was given the talent to write, and that the ideas don’t stop coming. I am grateful for my wide circle of writerly and readerly friends, especially my QSF co-admins Angel Martinez … Read more

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

POINT OF VIEW: A Good Beta

by
beta reader - 123rf purchased

Hey all, I just got the last of my beta reads back for “The Rising Tide,” the sequel to “”The Stark Divide.” If you don’t know what a beta reader is, it’s someone who reads an author’s story and gives it a critical review before the author submits the book to the publisher, giving us the chance to fix any egregious errors or plot misfires before the editors see the story. I love my beta readers. I hate my beta readers. It’s a private joke between Angel and us that, just once, I want my beta readers to all agree … Read more

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

POINT OF VIEW: Sometimes I Want It Sweet

by
sweet love - pixabay

I write all kinds of things. OK, basically three kinds of things: –Sci Fi –Fantasy –Contemporary Magical Realism I am well-known for always wanting my contemporary to have a little extra something. The magical medallion in “Between the Lines”, the Freaky friday situation in “The Bear at the Bar”, and the sparkles in “River City”. Even my holiday tales have been affected. “A New Year” features an elf from Faerie, and last year’s Christmas tale “Wonderland” had both zombies and a post-apocalyptic Earth. But sometimes I just wanna go sweet. So this year, for the first time, I’ve penned a … Read more

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

POINT OF VIEW: Zombies in River City

by
zombies - pixabay

Hey all, I am working my way through my consistency edit for “The River City Chronicles.” Yeah, I know, hobgoblin of little minds, and all that. But in a work of fiction, consistency is king. And in a serial story, it can be especially difficult to maintain, because a) it’s written over a relatively long period of time, and b) each chapter is published and essentially set in stone almost right away, so it’s harder to go back and fix things. And for me, c) I jumped into this too quickly, didn’t get a good head start, and took lousy … Read more

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

POINT OF VIEW: Critical Acclaim and Crickets

by
Scott

Hey all, I am in the midst of the blog and review tour for “The Stark Divide,” the first book in the Liminal Sky series. So far, the reviews are uniformly good and even amazing. No writer minds hearing how someone couldn’t put their book down. * grin * But it all makes me wonder. Despite a huge blog and review tour (85 stops at last count) and great reviewer enthusiasm, the few indicators I can see tell me the book’s not selling as quickly as I’d like. Part of the problem is that I only have a few metrics … Read more

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

POINT OF VIEW: The Calm Before the Storm

by

Hey all, Tomorrow is the release day for “The Stark Divide,” the queer sci fi book that launches my Liminal Sky series. All the preparations have been made. The Incredibly Massive Blog Tour ™ is ready to go. And I’ve done everything I can to see that the book will be a success. Now I wait, suspended in that weird space between preparation and release, before I know if the reviewers will love it or hate it. Before I know if it will sell. Before I know if this is another step on the path to writerly success, or a … Read more

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

POINT OF VIEW: When Will It Click?

by
trend - pixabay

Hey all I’ve now been back to writing seriously for about four years. In that time, I’ve gone from zero things published to sixteen published works – including two novels launching two separate sci fi series, and I just sold the sequel to the first one. I’m about to wrap up my online serial, “The River City Chronicles,” which I plan to release in book form in both English and Italian. And I have a bunch of other irons in the fire, including my second sequel and a group serial project. So when is it going to happen for me? … Read more

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

POINT OF VIEW: I Wanna Write That Instead!

by
Scott

Hey all, I’m on a serious deadline for my novel “The Rising Tide.” It’s going well, I think. But… See, there’s this other story I wanna write, which would be due on 10/1. It’s short, and I could probably do it in 3-6 days. I even had a bit of inspiration. But… Like I said, I have a deadline. And I don’t wanna lose momentum on my novel, which has a hard deadline. What would you do? Stick to your deadline? Write the other story to get it out of your system? Invent a time machine and go back a … Read more