Oh dear, has it really been that long since I updated my journal? Well, at least the time away has been well spent, as I was able to turn in the revised draft of Swift to my UK editor on Friday. So that is Happy-Making Thing #1 at the moment for me.

Here's a little taste of what's to come, from the beginning of Chapter 2:

[Ivy] took a step ( Read more... )

Serendipity is a word that sounds like it belongs in an Andrew Bird song, and that's fitting because that's exactly how I discovered his music.

Lava flows over crooks and craggy cliffs to the ocean
And explodes in a steam heat fevered cyclical motion
-- "Fitz & the Dizzyspells"A couple of weeks ago, I was struggling to write the final section of ( Read more... )

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I could go on raving at tedious length about how much I love di_br's vids but I think I've already done that before in this journal, so instead I'll just point you in the direction of her latest:

"When I Ruled The World"Yes, it's set to "Viva La Vida", but don't let that stop you because it so happens it's the perfect song for this exploration of the ( Read more... )

After the last post it seems eminently fitting that I should link to this excellent short story* by kittikattie:

Fairies Come In Brown (1000 words, original fiction)

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* Which contains a small amount of strong language (not blasphemy, though), lest anyone get upset about not being informed of that before reading.

anywherebeyond a.k.a. Saundra Mitchell has just posted the first page of her forthcoming (20 days!) YA paranormal suspense novel Shadowed Summer, and as always her prose is a thing of beauty and a joy forever and Iris's narrative voice is sheer brilliance, so I urge you to go over and read it.

( Read more... )

I have just realized that I have been remiss in not mentioning that I just discovered and have been quite taken with The Dreamer, a webcomic which puts a high school girl from the present day smack in the middle of the events of the American Revolutionary War. It's painstakingly researched, beautifully drawn and colored, and has plenty of adventure ( Read more... )

I still feel pretty much entirely made of fail as far as my writing is concerned, but I remind myself that I go through this phase on a regular basis, and that if I give myself another day or two I will be back on a more even keel again. Not delusional enough to think my very first-drafty book is the Best Thing Ever, but enough that I can bear to ( Read more... )

I have just finished reading A Drowned Maiden's Hair by Laura Amy Schlitz, and I have only one thing to say to my f-list:

All of you who recommended that I read A Little Princess before all the other books in my to-read pile? You need to go out and read Schlitz's book right. now. Because I really can't remember a better tribute, or response, to ( Read more... )