Wild Magic. Wild Stories. Wild Souls.
Late autumn is here in earnest this week, with some chilly temps and soggy days. It’s been a week for sipping tea and curling up under a blanket with a good book. I’m finally getting around to responding to blog comments, and I apologize for the delay. Having two new part-time jobs has sent my […]
Read MoreA lot has happened since my last check-in. On Sunday we said goodbye to our cat Roo, who’d been with us 15 years. We watched her grow from a feisty kitten who was always getting into one misadventure after another to a feisty old lady who kept the entire house in line. Goodbye, sweet Roo. […]
Read MoreThis week turned out to be a wonderfully productive week. I wrote 4,429 words in a new story, Bewitched by the Dragon, and wrote a 4,678-word short story, Upon the Witching Hour, a retelling of Cinderella (but with a twist). I also wrote and posted my first Insecure Writers Support Group post, and am finding […]
Read MoreAs writers, we think a lot about point of view. Sometimes our genre dictates what POV we use, although even within a genre we can use our own creativity. Yasmine Galenorn writes paranormal romance that’s first person, unusual for the romance genre where third person is often used. YA often calls for first person, although […]
Read MoreWhile studying creative writing in undergraduate and grad school, I participated in countless writing workshops. I’ve been a member of critique groups and read countless writing books. But there’s one thing I’ve only recently come to realize: Sometimes people’s writing advice is bad. Well, let me clarify. It’s not necessarily bad advice. It’s just bad […]
Read MoreI’ve been writing full-time for over two years now–and part-time for many more. For the first two years, I was focused on finishing drafts and creating worlds. And then, earlier this year, something clicked. I realized I needed to think about how to get those stories into the world, into the hands of readers. So […]
Read MoreLong time, no blog. I apologize for the blogging hiatus. The month of January and the beginning of February were, well, crazy. To summarize: First, the semester started, and I poured myself into class prep. I’m still putting a lot of energy into teaching this class, and I don’t see that changing this semester. So […]
Read MoreI’ll keep this ROW80 check-in brief. Classes start this week, so I spent some of the last week doing some prep work, and I know my word counts will probably decrease in the coming weeks as the semester begins. My plan for the next few months is lots of revision. I have a short novel, […]
Read MoreRecently I got some exciting news: one of my novellas took first place in a contest. I was excited, but the final round judge’s comments weren’t especially heartening: a cute story, she said, but a tough sell in today’s market. So I started doing some research. Apparently there is a huge glut of paranormal romance […]
Read MoreRight now I’m in a place where I’m looking forward, and I’m trying to stay grounded in the present moment. I like being a planner, but sometimes we need to focus on what is rather than what might be. That means getting a few of my many WIPs ready for publication, whether that’s self-published or […]
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