I will be taking a break from updating this blog for a while due to the fact that I am expecting our first child in less than 2 weeks. We (my husband and I) are really excited (and terrified) to become parents and it’s coming up quick.

I likely won’t update this blog from May to October, that’s what I’m thinking right now anyway, but if I feel up to it I’ll try to post sooner. We don’t know what we are having (boy or girl) so I’ll try to post some sort of announcement after the big day.

As for writing, I’m not sure how things will go with a newborn around. I doubt I’ll have the time or energy to write for a few months, but I have signed up to work with a couple of authors from the UK to do a collaborative novella project. I’m almost finished the first draft already and I’m hoping I can finish it before the baby makes an appearance. Our goal is it have something we can start talking about in the summer or fall – it’s a sekrit right now – but I’ll give you a hint as to what it’s about…

It all takes place in an alternate history.

I’m really excited to be working on a new project again but timing is everything. Life is sure about to get interesting.

Research for fiction writers seems to be coming up a lot lately. Whether you look at Write Anything’s recent guest post by Justyn Rowe, or Krista D. Ball’s series called ‘A Nibble of History’ people are talking about it… and the general feeling I’m getting is that a lot writers aren’t doing it properly.

I can’t say that I’m doing it properly either to be honest, but I do know how frustrating it can be to search for information on the web. There is just too much of it, plain and simple. I can understand why authors find one site with information on their subject and leave it at that – who wants to verify whether the data is correct or not when it took you that long to find it in the first place.  However, much like the student who must provide references for their essays, readers today have access to the same pool of information and they are more likely than ever to call you on something if you’ve gotten your facts wrong.

Read the rest of this entry »

Once a year, Lynda and I get together to discuss topics on her blog – much like you would find at a writing convention. This year we are taking on the Work-Life Balance that all writers must face. Below is a copy of the guest post I did on her blog. To join in on the discussion, to leave comments, and to find out how Lynda responded, I encourage you to go to Lynda’s blog: Reality Skimming!

Lynda Williams was kind enough to ask me to discuss this topic on her blog today, so let’s start with a definition.

According to Wikipedia a “Work-Life Balance” can be defined as such: “Each individual’s needs, experiences and goals, define the balance and there is not a one size fits all solution. Also, what work-life balance does not mean is an equal balance in units of time between work and life.”
Read the rest of this entry »

So 3 1/2 months after my last post, begins the best part of the fall (after Halloween) – NaNoWriMo.

First, sorry about the lack of anything on this blog over the summer. I must admit that I go through dry periods where I really have nothing to say on here. But that’s likely to change over the coming weeks.

Today is the first day of NaNoWriMo, and while I’m not as excited about it as I was last year I’m still going to give it my all. I’ll be working on a new novel thus far titled “Memories of Mist”. The short pitch goes something like this: “In a world where animals give magic and robots steal souls, four people awaken with no memories of who they are or how they became entangled in a war that may destroy everything.”

Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve been a long time lurker on the Write Anything website. They have a lot of good articles on writing and every once and a while they post these fun little exercises.

I’ve normally just done them off-line, but I thought I would share this one.

The point of this exercise was to write a 10 line story about two estranged family members coming together after a long time. The story had to be 10 sentences long – max. Not only that, but each sentence had a prompt for it. They are broken down like this:

Read the rest of this entry »

This week is a week of firsts for me. My first spoken word story and now my first entry into this wonderful weekly event #FridayFlash (PS: if you’re looking for some great free flash fiction online, search #FridayFlash on Twitter every Friday).

My story this week is called “Shiny” and it has a cameo from a Steampunk Airship Captain that has been haunting my dreams for the last couple of weeks. I’m not sure if the story itself could be classified as Steampunk but that’s were I’ve put it.

Oh and if you would like to listen to this story instead of reading it, you can listen to it below:
Read the rest of this entry »