Still sick. But improving! My voice has come back enough that I can do an abbreviated bedtime story for the kids. We’re currently reading Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin (a Newberry Honor book), which is really a perfect bedtime story because a) it’s stories inside of stories, so you always have a complete story even though it’s in a ( Read more... )

x-posted to Facebook

I am trying a 10-minute morning journaling thing. We shall see. I imagine it will be some part brain dump, some part to-do list, some part memories. Will I even be typing it normally, or will I be handwriting it? I like the idea of posting it so it can be seen again in memories or shared with others, but I also like the ( Read more... )

I'm neck-deep in revisions right now, and it's reminded me of my favorite trick for making sure that the beginning of a story pops. I pretend that I have one paragraph to persuade someone to read the rest of my story. I'll read from the beginning of the story until I hit that one paragraph that really speaks for the story. This can be a ( Read more... )

Thoughts in Passing

Today I watched an interview that Minnesota Speculative Fiction Writers did with Bryan Thao Worra, and a few things he said really struck home. (I am paraphrasing, of course.)

Figure out how to write in a way that nobody else can. What makes your writing unique to you? Do more of that. Sure, you could imitate another writer in ( Read more... )

I swear someday I'm going to make posts here other than the personal bit from my writer's newsletter again. I was thinking about the importance of journaling for me again, and how difficult it is for me to keep memories without it. Of course, I keep saying this. But hey! It could happen! Not today, though.

Thoughts in Passing
For the first time in ( Read more... )

Thoughts in Passing
I recently saw a writer posting in distress. They had taken their work to a critique group, where they learned that they wrote with a lot of "filler movement." What does that mean? It means the bits that happen between the action. Opening and closing doors. Walking across a room. Getting out of a car. Traveling somewhere. ( Read more... )

Phil & Abra Staffin Wiebe

& Cassius & Theia

Dear Friends and Family,

Well, this is one hell of a year to try and write a Christmas letter in, isn't it? The pandemic, the Uprising (we live only a few blocks from George Floyd Square), distance learning and working from home, and that's without even getting into the politics of 2020. So much has ( Read more... )

Merry Christmas and happy holidays! My family celebrated the Longest Night yesterday. If you haven't sat in a dark room and read by candlelight recently, I recommend it. Very soothing! Even if you live with someone who insists on watching the football game at the same time...

For writers, with the holidays and the end of the year also comes ( Read more... )

Welp, I "won" the severely abbreviated version of NaNoWriMo that I attempted. Woo! Among the things I let slide was putting the personal bit from my last market newsletter up here. So here it is!

Does reading nonfiction make you a better fiction writer? This question came up in a writing group I'm a member of. The standard answer for SFF writers ( Read more... )

I am not a morning person. I am SO NOT a morning person. But my goal is to get myself to that magical 5 AM wake-up-and-write that I've heard about. I'm not there yet. If you are trying to make the same transition, here are a few things that are helping me:
1. Gradual change. I set my alarm 15 minutes earlier. When I manage to wake up and stay ( Read more... )