Page of Swords is off to the editor, and then, it will be time for the usual hacking and slashing that accompanies the book creation process. Wow, how much fun is that gonna be?

During the editing process, the story is, of course, pored over several times. Studied. Dissected. Reassembled. Brought to life through an esoteric and painful process that ( Read more... )

So, in the past I’ve commented on the concept of the True Believer, the kind of fan every writer needs. You know, the reader who spends as much time learning about the world you created as you did creating it? The reader who asks questions that you never thought of, and notices details that you forgot. The one who asks you questions that make you ( Read more... )

Some thoughts on VisionCon.

For about ten hours during VisionCon here in Springfield Missouri, I was given a spot at a guest table. I was privileged to have shared it with several other talented people. The con staff were very nice about scheduling, some even apologizing that the table space was limited so that we had to rotate through it (the rest ( Read more... )

Normally, I don’t get involved in this kind of thing. Inevitably, when there is a conflict between two people, and I decide to step in on one side, I end up regretting it. But not now. Not this time.

Since I first stepped into this business of writing, Writer Beware has never led me wrong. When I found my publisher, I checked their site, and didn’t ( Read more... )

It's semi-official... I have a contract to publish The Demon's Apprentice ( Read more... )

Rachelle Gardner posted an interesting entry about what your query letter says about you as an author.  Made me want to go back and edit some of my queries where I touted my work as "Harry Dresden goes to Hogwarts" until I remembered I never wrote that (whew!).

But, along similar lines, it made me look at what I expect of my potential agent.  ( Read more... )

Wow.  Just...wow.

Back in March, FinePrint Lit agent Colleen Lindsay did a Twitter fest called Queryfail.  In essence, she posted excerpts from query letters she received, showing the worst mistakes and biggest examples of people not following guidelines, or just plain good sense and common courtesy.

Some folks liked it, some folks didn't.

Some folks ( Read more... )

Okay, granted it's not MY good news, but it makes me feel hopeful, dammit ( Read more... )

We all want to change the world a little, right?  Sometimes it's in big, noble ways, like ending world hunger, or curing AIDS or some such.  Other times, it's in small ways that make our own little slice of reality a little easier to deal with, like seeing the idiot who cut us off on the freeway get pulled over.

That, to me, is one of the fun things ( Read more... )