This coming week is Severe Weather Preparedness Week. Here are some useful safety tips from actual experts: https://www.in.gov/dhs/get-prepared/nature-safety/severe-weather-preparedness/ Some say the best advice you can give when it comes to tornadoes is to keep your insurance paid up and update your will ( Read more... )

 I'm continually surprised that editors and agents in the publishing industry expect novelists to write short stuff, like query letters, outlines, and synopsis ... synopsis's ... synopsi? Just a sec ( Read more... )

This month's newsletter is out and about:

https://mailchi.mp/a19474764019/the-summer-doldrums-and-an-oz-connection

What's the Oz connection, you ask? Well, it has nothing to do with Australia or prison TV shows. Otherwise it's just a little thing, but you have to read it to find out. *insert evil laughter here*

(Yes, I'm aware there are a couple of ( Read more... )

 The final draft of The Source Emerald is done!

Wait, let me start over:

The "final draft" of The Source Emerald is done! (Assuming that will continue to be the title.)

There, more accurate. The Source Emerald is about a young FBI agent who is assigned to track down possible gem smugglers, only to discover two of her suspects claim to be foreigners ( Read more... )

So, the first draft of The Source Emerald weighed in at 67,515. The second draft topped out at 70,294. Now I've finished the third draft, and the new word count? 69,028. An increase of 2,779 words, followed by a decrease of 1,266 words.
But not the same words.

My third draft was a seek and destroy mission against certain words that can weaken ( Read more... )

 Second draft of the new novel-in-progress: done. New working title: The Source Emerald.

The rough draft weighed in at 67,515 words. Even after cutting some of the final chapter, the second draft finished at 70,294 words. A lot of those extra 2,779 words consisted of me saying, "Huh? What did I mean by that?" and then going in to make it clearer ( Read more... )

Where does Santa Claus go on vacation? Why, Oz, of course. Read about it in a new Christmas short story, and don't forget to sign up to get the regular newsletter, which hits about once a month. Merry Christmas!

https://mailchi.mp/ ( Read more... )

It turns out I can not only write 50,000 words in thirty days, I can write them in 20 days!

(Technically 22, because I didn't update my count as fast as I wrote, but what the heck.)


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You want a great book to give this holiday season?
Okay, yeah, my books, but this one isn't about self-promotion. I'm talking about a book Emily got me, one of my favorite gifts: The Annotated Wizard of Oz.


( Read more... )

Update: I'm up to 42,000 words in my new rough draft!

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My fire photo book project has been handed over to Emily, who's working on getting all the photos ready and put in their proper place--a job I wouldn't wish on anybody. I mean, she has to go by my notes.

So that leaves ( Read more... )