As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

POINT OF VIEW: Waiting for the Light

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

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

POINT OF VIEW: Dancing Between Your Ears

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

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

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

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

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

POINT OF VIEW: The Long Bleak August of the Soul

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

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

POINT OF VIEW: Keeping Track of All the Details

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

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

POINT OF VIEW: Writing in a Time of Chaos

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

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

POINT OF VIEW: Writing Alien

Alien - Deposit Photos

I just finished reading The Bantam by RJ Theodore (review coming soon). I really enjoyed it – it’s like a crash course in writing a relatable alien. So how did the author do it? When writing truly alien characters, we have to discard everything we know: Why should they be bipedal? Why should they have hands or fingers, and why would these appendages be at the end of arms? Why would they have two genders? Why two eyes? Would they even have something we’d call eyes? Many sci-fi shows, books and films create aliens that are basically humans with different … Read more

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

POINT OF VIEW: There’s Always Beauty in the Garden

Flowers From Scott's Garden

This column was going to be titled “Here We Go Again,” and would have been all about the delta variant and being a writer, and about Mark and I having to shrink the boundaries of our world once again. But fuck that. I am so sick of talking about Covid19 and conspiracies and vaccines and face masks and lockdowns and rabid politicians and shortages of Yasso Bars and cashews and boba pearls and Tazo green tea. I need a little beauty. One of our favorite TV shows is Arrested Development, the comedic story of a very dysfunctional family. In one … Read more

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

POINT OF VIEW: Gone Wide

Gone Wide - Deposit Photos

Last month, I talked about the pros and cons of “going wide” – selling my books through a bunch of vendors and venues instead of only Amazon. Today, I’m finally there. All of my books are available via Amazon, iBooks, Kobo, and Barnes & Noble. And all of them that are published via our press, Other Worlds Ink, are also available through Thalia, Vivlio, Payhip, and to bookstores and libraries via Ingram Spark. So far, the results are encouraging. I’m seeing sales via Kobo and Barnes & Noble, and Amazon is holding its own. I’m even seeing some via iBooks. … Read more

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

POINT OF VIEW: The Muddy Middle Squared

Lost Tourist - Deposit Photos

I’ve written before about the muddy middle. It’s the part of your book, for me usually about two-thirds through, where you suddenly lose all faith in your ability to string words together. Your story feels boring and derivative, and you wonder why you ever thought you could do this whole writing thing in the first place. It doesn’t help that all around you, other writers are holding up their new book babies like proud parents and exclaiming how wonderful it is to finally be able to share them with the world. At the same time, you feel like you will … Read more