Category: Inspiration

Dude, where are the women in science fiction?

Hi, all.

Whew. Sorry about the delay; I’ve been crazy busy. I finished up the edits for the third in my sci fi series, The Edge of Rebellion. Cover coming soon as well as an excerpt. I’ll post them here and on my main site don’tcha know, so stay tuned.

I’m also sending the fourth in my New Mexico series, Day of the Dead, in for edits. We’re hoping to have that out by the end of the year. WOOOO! Stay tuned for a cover and excerpt from that, too.

Thanks again, everybody, for stopping by during the (blog) Hop Against Homophobia and Transphobia. Much appreciated. I discovered some new authors, so I’m pretty stoked. Plus it was just really great to build a bit of community.

Anyway, I wanted to bring your attention to sci fi writer Kameron Hurley. By all means, read her work, but also, for the love of goddesses, read her blogs, too, because she is on point when it comes to dealing with how women are represented in fiction and science fiction. I just recently found out about what appears to be some major sexism at the Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA) not only through Hurley, but also through E. Catherine Tobler.

Keep reading…

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by Categories: Cool stuff to read, Inspiration, Science Fiction, Spec fic, Stuff that sucks, Super cool blogs, Things that make you think, WritingTags: , , , , , 7 Comments

Hoppin’ Against Homophobia and Transphobia

AND WE HAVE A WINNER of a $25 Amazon gift card and a copy of 1 of my books! Lisa W, come on down! YEEE-HA!!!! (Lisa, if you do not have an email message from me, check your spam filter)

Thanks, everyone, for stopping by. Thanks for the comments and thanks to those authors who participated in this hop. Happy reading, happy writing.
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Hi, peeps. And hello, newcomers. Thanks for joining me today, which is the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia.

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I agreed to join in the (Blog) Hop Against Homophobia and Transphobia, which is going on from May 17-27 on various blogs. I hope you’ll go and check out the others, too, to get an array of perspectives on this very important topic (and also to join in on some prize-winnin’!).

This day (commonly acronymed as IDAHO) was launched in 2004. It’s always on May 17th, which is the day in 1990 that the World Health Organization decided to remove homosexuality from the list of mental illnesses/disorders in the International Classification of Diseases. Transgender identity (referred to as transsexualism in the ICD), however, remains in the ICD as a “mental/behavioral disorder,” classified as a gender identity disorder.

Also, for those of you not in the know, I write F/F mysteries, sci fi, and romance, though all of my works generally include an array of characters. You can find out more about me here on my website (click “About”) and you can check out what I write here and here.

And here’s information about the giveaway I’m doing as part of this blog hop:

Answer the following question for a chance to receive a $25 gift card to Amazon.com and 1 copy of any one of my published books. Here’s my book list, which will explain the order of books in my two series (one is mystery, one is science fiction).

Here’s your question: Who is Alysia Yeoh? Give me a little bit of a reason as to why she might be considered important.

Put your answer in a comment on this post. Please include an actual, working email address when you fill out the comment form. Do NOT include your email address in the comment body, to avoid spam bots. Don’t worry. My little merry blog elves will make sure I get your email address. NOTE: I will notify the winner within 30 minutes of the drawing. If you do not hear from me, CHECK YOUR SPAM FILTER. Thank yuh. Thank yuh ver-uh much. 😀

I’ll draw the winner randomly from all the correct answers on May 27th, 9 PM EST (US). Have fun!

All right. So let’s get global…

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by Categories: Blog Hop, Events, Free Books, InspirationTags: , 47 Comments

Recycled writing tip: “As you know, Bob”

Hi, all–

On occasion, I re-post writing tips that I’ve gone over in the past. This one is from Women and Words (where I blog and co-admin). It’s the “As you know, Bob” syndrome or, in other parlance, a version of telling and not showing. Remember, you want to SHOW and not TELL. And you want to avoid info-dumps.

Here’s the link.

Happy reading, happy writing!

by Categories: Inspiration, Things that might make you think, Writing, Writing tipsTags: , , 2 Comments

Things readers can do for writers

Hey, all–

Caught this cool post at Writer Unboxed from January 28 (okay, so, most of their posts are great) about what readers can do for writers. Specifically, writer and editor Chuck Sambuchino provides 11 tips with regard to supporting a writer’s new book. Number 1?

Buy the author’s book.

Here’s what he says:

An obvious point, sure, but important nonetheless. Naturally, we must buy new copies of books, not used copies, for the sale to “count” and the author to get a royalty. So buy new. Heck, consider pre-ordering the book. Publishers pay attention to pre-orders to help get a sense of what titles are getting buzz and attention. Impressive pre-orders help the author.
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No, authors do not make money off of used copies, no matter where you buy those used copies. Just wanted to clear that up. And we certainly don’t make money off pirated copies of our work. Now before you start in on how you can’t afford a new copy and all that, hey. It’s cool. I get it. I understand why you buy used. I also understand why you borrow a book from a friend or a library. I totally get that. That said, I am not down with piracy. Sorry.

At any rate, if you buy used and/or borrow a book, how about if you really like the author, could you do her a favor and tell your friends about her? And about her books and stories? Especially if you buy used or borrow a book. And if you do buy new and you loan your copy out to a few friends so they, too, can discover a new author, THANKS. So yes, ideally, authors REALLY appreciate it when you buy new. But we also appreciate it when you tell your friends about this cool author you discovered and how about giving her a read.

Moving along, Sambuchino also offers these tips (and I’ve been known to do stuff like this for authors I enjoy): face the book out at bookstores and read it visibly. The latter, I’m afraid, is going to be much harder to do these days, because many people no longer read actual physical books where you can show off your book cover. Instead, you’re on an ereader, and that makes it harder. But if you do have a physical copy of a book and you enjoy that author, hey, let the world see the title and author’s name. Another good tip is to spread the word about the book/author via your social media channels.

Basically, Sambuchino offers easy things for readers to do to help spread the word about an author and her new book(s). And believe me, authors appreciate it SO much when readers talk up authors whose work they enjoy. So thank you, readers. Thanks for buying our work, thanks for reading it, thanks for letting others know about your fave authors. You’re part of this whole publishing thing, too. And I think sometimes some writers forget that, much to their detriment.

Anyway. Happy Tuesday!

by Categories: Cool blogs, Inspiration, Promo n' marketing, Things that might make you thinkTags: , , , 2 Comments

Cool links

Hiya, peeps!

When I find interesting-ness on the intertubes, I like to pass it along to you, to do with as you please.

First, author and awesome savant Chuck Wendig often re-posts things from his blog “Terrible Minds.” This one is one of my faves, “Ode to the Editor.” Read it HERE.

Remember the other day I blogged on the importance of editors and those urban fantasy books I was reading? And how I said I would definitely not read further in one series, but would in the other? Well, I’m reading the second in the series I enjoyed, but once again, the editor made a boo-boo. In the first of that series, the word “allusion” rather than “illusion” appeared. In this one, the word “allude” rather than “elude” appeared. Grammar monster will explain the difference here. Even though I’m 200 pages past it, it still bugs me. And sadly, I know what page it’s on. Sigh. The editor-ness in me sometimes is SUCH a burden. 😀

Anyway. Here’s another cool thing I found today. Jennifer Niven writes on women spies at HuffPo in the 20th century. Super-cool, and if you’re looking for some inspiration or ideas for an espionage novel/thriller, this piece might offer you some.

Oh, and James Blaylock, one of the dudes integral in the establishment of steampunk as a genre, tells us how that came about in his piece at HuffPo, “On Steampunk.”

I’m currently reading Phoenix Rising (by Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris), the first in the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences series. Fun stuff, great characters. If you haven’t read much steampunk, I also recommend Cherie Priest‘s work.

Heh. And the January 15 Bloggess entry, about the Eye of Sauron. [NOTE: if you have issues with ladyparts words, don’t click that link.]

And finally, this cool song, “All of Me,” by the Brooklyn duo Tanlines. They remind me of my Erasure days in the 80s, when I wore pegged jeans, Docs, and retro bowling shirts. Oh, wait…

Anyway, this vid has an 80s cold war feel to it, too. Love the juxtaposition of the bippy tune and the grim interior of that bar/club.


direct link

All rightie! Happy reading, happy writing, and put your music on and DANCE!

by Categories: Cool articles, Cool stuff to read, Coolness, Editing, InspirationTags: , ,

What the X-Files taught me about series

Hey, Happy Thanksgiving to those of you who engage in this American holiday.

I’m not really big on the holidays (as in Thanksgiving-Christmas), as some of you know, but I do enjoy the bit of time off I can take to catch up on my chillaxin’.

So I took yesterday off and basically freebased over half of Season 1 of the X-Files. I’m up to episode 15 (there are 24). It’s been years since I’ve watched the series, and though the costumes, hairstyles (and shut up, but I’m trying to bring back Mulder’s look), cars, and technology are dated (season 1 premiered in 1993), the writing and characters remain strong. Not every episode, mind you. There were some episodes that just didn’t work (like this one; sorry Chris Carter. Just. . .no.), but for the most part, it remains a strong show with episodes that still creep me out.

source (re-sized here)

Basically, if you want to write a series — any series — and keep it going for a long time, use the X-Files as a potential model. Not in terms of what actually the show is about, but rather how its infrastructure is put together.

Continue on for my ode to the X-Files. . .

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by Categories: Inspiration, Paranormal, Spec fic, Things that make you think, TV shows, Writing, Writing tipsTags: , , 2 Comments

Quickie writing tips

Hiya, peeps–

Something cool that you still have a little time to follow is the Thursday Tweet-o-rama session with Sara Megibow, an agent with Nelson Literary Agency out of Denver (yay!). She does this thing on Twitter called 10 Queries in 10 Tweets. She Tweets 10 times about projects from the slushpile, letting followers know if it’s a yes or a no. She states the genre of the project, and a very brief reason as to why she’s rejecting it or accepting it. No identities are revealed in the making of these Tweets. Sara’s Twitter handle is @SaraMegibow and the hashtag is #10queriesin10tweets. Sadly, I think she’s discontinuing it at the end of the December, but you can check out the hashtag regardless and see what it was about. And follow her anyway on Twitter. She’s got lots of cool tips and info.

Otherwise, you might consider signing up for the Nelson Lit Agency newsletter. It’s monthly, and provides info about what projects they’ve acquired and why, and updates you on other projects they successfully placed at publishing houses. They’ll also tell you about some of the super-cool webinars they do for writers.

AND. Here are some examples of successful query letters to agents. I think you can use these as examples, too, of successful queries to publishing houses that don’t require agents. Seeing examples of what works, I think, can be pretty helpful to get your groove for your own queries. Seriously. Go check those out. I guarantee you’ll be wanting to read the full project after reading the query. 😉

Just some tips from the ether from me to you. Happy Saturday, and happy writing!

by Categories: Inspiration, Publishing bizness, Writing, Writing tipsTags: , , 1 Comment

If at first you don’t secede: world-building

Hi, peeps–

A friend of mine sent me a link recently from a…ah…shall we say, more “conservative” website in which there was talk about certain southern states seceding from the U.S. I won’t mention the site or the states. Suffice it to say that if you play on TEH GOOGLE for any amount of time with the word “secession,” you’ll no doubt run across many sites whose visitors spend lots of time grumbling about such.

I don’t want to talk about the historical or political origins of such an argument, nor do I want to get into the larger anti-everything that isn’t conservative context in which such an argument percolates. Instead, let’s look at it through sort of a post-apocalyptic lens. Like, say, The Walking Dead. Also, when I bump into talk of secession, I invariably think of world-building in, say speculative fiction.


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WTF do I mean? Read on…

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by Categories: Inspiration, Spec fic, Writing, Writing tipsTags: , 6 Comments

How-to writing books

Hi, kids–

One of the ironies of writing is that we tend to read other writers’ guides on how to write. And we should, because there are some really good writing guides out there. It’s important to have guides on hand to grammar and punctuation, guides that help us figure out infrastructure, and tips that we can implement in our own writing to take our games to the next level. And then there are inspirational writing guides that can make you feel warm and fuzzy after you’ve had writing issues.

So here are a few of my suggestions.

For mystery writers, check out Chris Roerden‘s Don’t Murder Your Mystery (that link will also show you another of her great guides, Don’t Sabotage Your Submission). The tips in that book you can use for other genres, as well.

Looking to write more descriptively? Try Rebecca McClanahan‘s Word Painting. It includes instruction and exercises, as well as examples from the masters, classic and contemporary.

Stephen King’s On Writing. It’s already on its 10th anniversary. Part memoir, part guide, this handy toolkit will address just about everything you need in your bag o’ writing tricks. The fundamentals, my friends. Plus, it’s a warm, intimate look at King’s early life and how he himself approaches writing. But don’t just listen to me. Go check out the link.

Natalie Goldberg, Writing Down the Bones (originally published in 1986, but it was updated in 2005). This is sort of a “Zen and the art of liberating your inner writer” kinda book. Might not be everyone’s style, but it’s a different approach and delves into creativity and its potential spiritual elements.

Strunk and White, The Elements of Style. It does not matter that this book first started life as an in-house writing guide for college students in 1918 by Cornell’s William Strunk. Nor does it matter that this pup got new life in 1959 when E.B. White revised Strunk’s 1935 edition. It’s freakin’ timeless, this book, and addresses things like the most misspelled words, common word usage errors, and proper punctuation. The book does have its critics, but it’s a nice brick to have in your writing framework.

Also get on over to Keith Cronin‘s recent blog over at Writer Unboxed to see his list of suggestions for writing guides. We overlap in a couple of places, but that’s okay. I like his list and I’m going to take his suggestions on a couple of things.

And here’s a list by Jon Winokur over at HuffPo (from 2010, but that’s quite okay).

Hopefully, that’ll get you started. Happy reading, happy writing!

by Categories: Books, Cool stuff to read, Inspiration, Writing, Writing tipsTags: , , 1 Comment

More on the Writers’ Police Academy

Hey, kids!

Okay, so I’m able to get caught up with things and tell you about my weekend at the Writers’ Police Academy in North Carolina. I mentioned it a bit last week here. I’m a member of Sisters in Crime, which is so freaking awesome in so many ways, not least of which is helping subsidize the WPA registration fee for its members. BIG FREAKING SHOUT-OUT TO SinC! And THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to all the staff at the Guilford, NC sheriff’s department, who VOLUNTEERED all their time to work with us over the weekend, and to the instructors at Guilford Technical Community College, who also VOLUNTEERED their time to run the sessions and work with a bunch of writers who literally bombarded them with questions. THANKS!

So I’m gonna give you my day-to-day activities. So for those of you who write thrillers and/or mysteries, an event like this might be well worth your while.

Let’s go!

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by Categories: Conferences, Inspiration, Writing, Writing tips