I just got back from a trip to Italy (to get my travel legs back and see art and eat delicious food – update to come) and discovered that pre-orders are now available for all four novels in their new Open Road Media editions. Release date is July 9, 2024. Pre-orders are important in the […]

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Here’s the best of what I read in the first three months of this year. Sadly, the ‘to read’ list gets no shorter. FICTION The Buccaneers, Edith Wharton. The Wharton-fest continues (I’m currently working on The House of Mirth). This edition just has the actual Wharton text, without the later happy ending. And yes, I […]

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Things are moving along towards the reissue of the four novels from Open Road Media. I’ve seen both the covers (gorgeous, once the top hat is gone!) and the promotional ‘jacket copy’ (is that what you call it when there are no jackets?). It’s always fascinating to see how different artists approach the covers. I’ve […]

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I’ve finished the first round of serious line editing on the Witch Novel and now I need to buckle down and make the more serious changes needed. And maybe think of a name for the damned thing. In poking around my folder of miscellaneous writing advice, I came across some exercises I did from WONDERBOOK […]

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I survived the comments from Reader #2. Most suggestions are easy to implement or require just a bit of revision. One of the areas requiring major change wasn’t a surprise at all, as I was never sure that it really worked anyway. Lots of positive comments helped, of course, so I wasn’t required to visit […]

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Another year, another 140 books (or so) books read. Of these, 44% were non-fiction on topics from science to politics to history to biography to (of course) ‘how to write’ books. Because hope springs eternal on that front. Here’s a quick summary of some of my favourites. Climate (yes, it’s bad): Arboreality, by Rebecca Campbell. […]

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I’m waiting for some ‘bigger picture’ comments on the Witch Novel so thought I might as well proceed with some ‘easy’ editing. This involves searching the document for weasel words* and my own personal pet words (notably ‘dark’ and ‘pale’. God, I love those words). Weasel words include things like: suddenly, finally, merely, huge, most, […]

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Wrapped up Nanowrimo for another year and met my goal of 5,000 words. They were 5,000 pretty pathetic words and I suspect that when I start “Glass World Take Four” they will all vanish into the electronic ether, but c’est la vie. Words were typed! Goals were met! The world moves on.

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I’m very excited to announce that all my novels (currently out of print) will be issued in new ebook editions in 2024 by Open Road Media. Now I’m in the middle of rights clearances (the process has changed a wee bit from the early 1990s when I sent a fax to the music publishing company) […]

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So far I’m making my target for this year’s National Novel Writing Month, but I admit that target is pretty modest: 5,000 words on the Glass World project. I’m not feeling terribly inspired and am in the “well, I have no idea what’s going on here but might as well have THIS happen” stage. The […]

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