I’ll no doubt curse myself by actually writing this but what the hell, let’s live dangerously. I’ve had a reasonably productive year (for varying definitions of productive). I alternate writing months with planning, plotting, exercise months and just came off writing 5,000 words for September. I’ll sign up for Nanowrimo for November, with a target […]

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Somewhat to my own surprise, I’ve now passed 100,000 words on The Witch Novel. Some of them are even good words, I think. This project had its beginnings in 2015, the year after COLD HILLSIDE was published. I’d gone back to some old, unfinished projects to see if anything might spark some inspiration. I made […]

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I spent April in the woods and the weeds of both WIPs. I wish I could say that I had a clear plan for what I was doing, but it was more a case of “write the next thing you think might happen here” and hope for the best. I’m not sure any of it […]

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I usually alternate monthly writing goals between actual writing and planning/plotting projects. April was Camp Nanowrimo and I managed my goal of 10,000 words – but it became clear I needed to make some decisions. May therefore became “brainstorm and decide” month. Some of the questions on the table included: What exactly is the religion? […]

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This post has been on my ‘to do’ list for a while but I just kept pushing it out, because my level of productivity has rapidly declined since my working days. These days, if I manage to go for a walk, meditate, and knock one thing off my list, I consider it a good day. […]

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A long list of questions, things to research or brainstorm, somewhat fewer words than when you started, and far fewer answers than you’d hoped for. April was editing month and I actually printed out all 243 words of my main WIP (aka The Witch Novel) in hopes of getting a new perspective. Some thoughts: this […]

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I’d mentioned in an earlier post that I’ve recorded seven short readings and that my husband has been composing background music for them. Now he’s discovered imovie and has made the jump to adding moody and evocative visuals to his compositions. I don’t know that we’re going to be able to come up with the […]

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Just put the (almost) finishing touches on the new material being added to the upcoming reissue of my Discovering Japan short story collection, due out in December. This new version features a new cover, one additional unpublished short story, and THREE (count ’em, three!) sections from the Work In Progress, aka “The Witch Novel”. Stay […]

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I’m 475 words away from hitting 30,000 this year and, at the risk of invoking the displeasure of the gods, I’m relatively certain that I can manage that before midnight on December 31st. Roughly half of them will be for the Witch Novel, bringing me to almost 62,000 for that project. I had some breakthroughs […]

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I’ve been feeling stuck on the Witch Thing in Progress (see avoidance behaviour post) and so I thought “why not try writing something fun? Something silly and frothy and maybe a wee bit fanfic-ish and romantic and without world-building or pressure or magic systems or any of those things that scare you.” I dutifully hauled […]

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