Category Archives: Books & other Writing

Marketing notes for upcoming releases plus some actual written fiction (small pieces and excerpts of large ones)

Mission Accomplished!

  By | | Books & other Writing, Life Sentences
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I’d like to say that I’ve been so focussed on writing that I haven’t had a minute to spare for blogging in the (gulp!) two+ years since my last post. It’s more honest to say that when I find myself drifting off topic during my writing hours, it does me more good to mess around in the kitchen than to turn to another kind of writing (I’m a very good kitchen-messer!)

Today, however, I am thrilled to be blogging! Because today I’m sharing a major life achievement.

If you were with me during  the Great Agent Fiasco of 2010-11, you’ll know that, after I finally finished licking my wounds, I accepted that if I ever wanted to see my work published I was going to have to do it myself. And, half measures never being my way, I vowed to not only publish that book but three others that were in various degrees of completion. Well, in April 2012, I did indeed put out The Breast of Everything. Followed by “Merle Darling’s” alternative history/fantasy, The Upsilon Knot, in August 2013. February 2015 saw the launch of Under the Bus. This week….astonishing as it is to contemplate, I can hereby declare the mission a wrap with the release of Chasing Fireflies.

And, as they say on game shows, there’s more! Not more book (though there will be more books in time; I’m currently deep into work on an Upsilon sequel, The Omicron Negative)  No, there’s more significance than the conclusion of a four-book writing/publishing marathon. I began planning to write Chasing Fireflies so long ago that…Well, let’s just say I was still in college when the seeds were planted. It took years for me to feel ready to write it and, more critically, to be able to write it. I was nearly at that point when I made my decision to begin the four-book marathon, and very deliberately made this book the last lap. So you could say that Chasing Fireflies is, for better or worse, the achievement of my lifetime. I tend to gag on the word “closure,” but I suppose that’s what I feel: oddly peaceful, like lounging on a pool float on a not-too-hot afternoon with a tropical cocktail in my hand.

Pretty amazing, huh? It’s been one hell of a ride. All of it. Was it easy? Not in the least. Fun? Only sometimes. Am I glad I did it? Very!

It’s been wonderful to have so many supporters with me throughout this adventure. When it go hard to keep going, you cheered me on. When I doubted myself, your reactions to the work gave me the confidence to push forward.

Thank you so much for your love and support!

2 Anniversaries, 2 Kindle Countdowns!

  By | | Books & other Writing
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May 1, the annual commemoration of International Worker’s Day, seems like the perfect time to shout-out to readers about the novel I like to think of as the ANTI-Atlas Shrugged, Under the Bus. Click here for a preview chapter

And on April 26th, I celebrate the anniversary of the publication of The Breast of Everything (Happy Birthday, Mam!). Click here for a preview chapter

What better way for me to celebrate than to run a special Tag Team Kindle Countdown?!  From April 24th through May 5, one or both of these novels will be available at irresistible prices.

  • The event kicks off on Thursday April 24th, with of The Breast of Everything. The special price of 99 cents remains in play until the afternoon of April 27th, then a bump up to $1.99 through May 1.
  • On Sunday, April 28, Under the Bus joins in, available through Mayday afternoon at the worker-friendly price of 99 cents (!), then rising to the only marginally higher $1.99 through the afternoon of May 3, with a final 60% discount price of $2.99 until the Countdown ends on May 5.

Spread the word!

One Post to Update Them All

  By | | Books & other Writing
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If you follow me here–or anywhere–you’ll have noticed that, despite having all the usual channels, I don’t post much at the best of times. When you’re a slow writer, like me, there just isn’t time. It’s tough enough to juggle novel-writing and making a living with maintaining contact with the humans I love. Over the last year, having been not-so-gently nudged from salaried employment to contract work, I’ve been scrambling more furiously than ever.

And now, I’m heading into NaNo. The book I’d been working on has run over by about five months and is still 2 chapters shy of a complete draft (and several hundred hours shy of a final one). And even so, I’m heading into NaNo. That probably sounds counterproductive to you. Unless you’ve experienced NaNo the same way that I have. As I blogged back in 2011, “NaNo is not to be missed.” It seems somewhat ironic (in the classic, not the millennial, use of the word) that the “jolly little workplace comedy” I was kicking off that year is the same bear that I’ve been fighting to finish off (it turned out to be neither so jolly nor so little after all).

This will be my fifth consecutive November writing marathon. I look forward to it with a mixture of excitement and dread. I expect a particularly difficult run this year, a combination of escalated time pressures and a project that is fraught with emotional baggage. The book I’ll be working on, Chasing Fireflies, is something I’ve been waiting my entire adult life to write. Waiting and preparing. In my mind, the novels I’ve written before–whether completed or not–have been training to write this one. Am I finally ready? No matter how much you prepare, you never feel as ready as you’d like to be. Even if I am ready–enough–is NaNo the right engine to kick it off? NaNo is relentless; it’s brilliant at pushing me forward by not allowing me the luxury of deliberating over every word. But for this novel, I want to deliberate; I want to write with the beauty and fluidity of a much better writer than I am. I know (and yes, I understand it’s probably a self-fulfilling prophecy) that if I manage to push through and “win” another NaNo, I’ll end up with mostly dross.

And yet, I’m doing NaNo. Because the focus and the confidence it gives me are a gift to be treasured. I write nearly every day of the year, but it’s the month of November, National Novel Writing Month, when I feel most like A Writer. On the other hand…don’t expect to read any of my work anytime soon!