Until recently, I was not big on outlining. I believed that making things up as I went along was vital to the creative process, that it kept things fresh and unpredictable, that it prevented boredom. I believed that outlining somehow sterilized the process and rendered it artistically inert. Wrong. Now, I’m not here to tell [...]
Surly Questions: Cara Michaels
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Today’s Surly Questions interview is courtesy of Cara Michaels, #MenageMonday magnate and author of Gaea’s Chosen. Thanks, Cara! 1. When did you know you wanted to be a writer? I discovered a talent for writing in the middle grades or so, but I didn’t really start to consider a writing career until high school and [...]
Promises, Promises
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“In order to dare we must know; in order to will, we must dare; we must will to possess empire and to reign we must be silent.” -Eliphas Levi, Transcendental Magic I used to be a big old planner and maker of promises. Now by “plan” Of course, I don’t actually mean plan, I mean [...]
Writers, Don’t Forget the Love
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Today is Valentine’s Day, that special time of year when a person’s fancy turns to thoughts of soulless corporate megaliths co-opting our emotions so they can sell greeting cards, fancy dinners, and Russel Stover assortments. As we look to the sky and scream curses at a blind and uncaring universe that has so blighted us, [...]
Outbound, 2/13/12
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I’m a bit short on time today, so I’m going to refer you to some other awesome material on the Interwebs. First, a great post by Kristen Lamb, author of We Are Not Alone – The Writer’s Guide to Social Media. It’s about what to do when you burn out in your writing. You Bring [...]
[Flash Fiction] The Darkest Part of the Wood
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This is a piece for Anna Meade’s flash fiction contest at Yearning for Wonderland. With apologies to Tracy McCusker, who’s heard this idea somewhere before. # # # They’d brought her to the country to heal. The fresh air will do you good, they’d said. As if the creaking house and smell of rotting October [...]
Notes From the Writing Abattoir
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Love of writing is a very peculiar kind of love. We spend hours alone, putting imaginary people through the paces, forsaking sleep and mental health in favor of coffee and scrawled character charts. We construct entire imaginary lives and then end them, in a way designed to upset those real people who have spent their [...]
