Writing Blog Pitfalls

As I mentioned, I use this blog to kick off my writing. It serves as the pressure-free blank page, and wakes my mind up gently. It's actually doing quite well at its job. Of course, there are exceptions. Yesterday I went for a hike in Golden Gate Park with the Boonie dog. I brought my...

Not totally in the mood for love

Late last year, I was coerced seduced invited to become a volunteer Board member for my local Romance Writers of America chapter. It was a pretty doggone good choice; SFA-RWA is a staggeringly fantastic group of strong women writers that I'm thrilled to be a part of. Though I'm a genre-jumper at heart (and will...

I still live here

Blogging serves a very specific purpose for me. It's my kickstart. Actually, it's more like the running-pushing-a-VW-with-a-dead-ignition-switch-then-popping-the-clutch-start. It's my way of avoiding the fear of the blank page. Before I moved it online, I had a document titled Writing Journal, and I'd open it at the same time I opened any WIP. Because here, it...

Unexpected Art

I love art that surprises you. Giant murals of pastoral landscapes, that up close turn out to be chewed fingernail clippings from 32 different street-walkers. Cathedral dioramas made from spent ammunition (or live; that would really be surprising). Standard girl-meets-boy romance stories that suddenly turn dark and dripping. Genre novels that can't be described without...

A string of sausages

A song came on the radio yesterday, Pancho and Lefty. "Oh, I love this song," I said to my buddy in the car. "Morrissey." He looked down his nose sideways at me. "Not Morrissey. Sheesh." "Right," I said. "Of course I meant Townes Van Zandt. Obviously." Except to him, it wasn't obvious at all. He...

Cementing your words

I was chatting with someone who still uses a typewriter, and I asked him what the appeal was. He answered that it was the physicality of it, the way a typewriter stamped out the words and cemented them into the real world. I don't get it. I have a typewriter, I love the way it...

In my library

I stumbled upon this post on journal writing prompts the other day, and one of them caught my eye. "Name a totally useless possession and how you came to acquire it." My first thought was, jeez, how do I choose? I've toned it down over the years, since I stopped working retail book shops and...

To Synopsize

I just like that word. Synopses. Synopsis. It's one of those words that looks more and more wrong the longer you stare at it. The actual item, however, gets more and more clear the longer I stare at it. Thank god it works that way. I've never used synopses to edit before, and I'm not...

How to Knit a Heart Back Home

Woot! Sighting of @RachaelHerron's new book!, originally uploaded by jujuwiz. Yay! The wonderful Rachael Herron (who just happens to share a last name with me, didja know?) has a new book out as of today! That's it, front and center, with a big red yarny heart popping out of a white cover. Dang if I...

The En

I am truly awful at finishing. It's not that my stories get lost and wander out of control, with no idea of how to bring them home. Except for one sad attempt at a mystery that turned into a ghost story and wandered off into the heavens, I can generally see the end, and the...