RITA ® Award-Winning Author of Fantasy Romance
//
This week at the SFF Seven we ask “Have you ever invented a holiday for your books – or if not, what holiday would you give your characters?” It happens I have invented a holiday – a midwinter one, even- and I wrote a novella around it. Come on over for more – and to read a bit!
//Also our topic at the SFF Seven this week is “With Gratitude: Shout Out to someone who makes you a better author (peer, editor, reviewer, SO, pet, etc.).”
Mine is weird, I know. Come on over to find out more.
//
I love these #shelfie pics – ones readers send me of my book spotted in the wild. This one is from a Kroger grocery store in Anchorage, Alaska. Pretty awesome company it’s keeping, huh?
Our topic at the SFF Seven this week is Mentoring: my mentors, ways I’ve mentored others, how to do it right, how to do it wrong, and whether it’s possible to lone-wolf this writing journey. Come on over for my answers!
//
As requested, I’ve put THE SNOWS OF WINDROVEN, HEART’S BLOOD, NEGOTIATION and THE CROWN OF THE QUEEN into print format! You can find those on my website.
Our topic at the SFF Seven this week is One thing we’re really good at as an author and one thing we’d like to do better. Come on over to find out mine!
//On yesterday’s podcast, First Cup of Coffee – November 2, 2019, I talked about building up daily wordcount gradually. So I’ve resurrected a previous post that gives a suggested strategy for hitting that 50K in November NaNoWriMo goal. Come on over to the SFF Seven to read about it!
//
It’s laundry day here, and Jackson takes laundry VERY seriously.
Our topic at the SFF Seven this week is Gravedigging: Share Something Great from a Dead Project.
While intriguing, this is also a tall order. I mean, for me, very few (if any?) projects are truly dead. Though I suppose zombie works also qualify for this spooky theme. Also, if there’s something Great in it, then the projects is almost certainly not dead. The truly dead projects are those that have nothing redeemable in them.
Also, this topic seriously took me down a rabbit hole of looking at old fragments of stories and various projects that languished for one reason or another – some going back twenty-five years to when I was first rooting around and finding my voice as a writer.
But here’s a little something that’s kind of been hanging around in the Undead Files. I wrote it down in part to capture a certain feel. It came from a dream when I was immersed in other projects and couldn’t devote time to this. Turns out that was ten years ago! I could’ve sworn it was only a couple. Alas.
Anyway, it’s rough – the names are placeholders – but I still see the shine in it. Come on over to read it.
//
Here’s a little tease of the cover of THE FIERY CROWN, sequel to THE ORCHID THRONE, and book two in the Forgotten Empires trilogy. The full cover will be revealed on Wednesday, October 16, at Tor.com. There will also be a sneak peek of the first chapter!
Our topic at the SFF Seven this week is the big career goal to which we currently aspire. Come on over to where I’m spilling mine.
//
I did a book launch signing yesterday for THE ORCHID THRONE, along with Jane Linskold. So lovely to see that my local indie bookstore, Page 1 Books, has such an array of my books!
It was a fun event and I so appreciate all the folks who took the time to come out.
Our topic at the SFF Seven this week is Writing Fight Scenes. Now, I – somewhat famously, if I want to give myself that much credit – don’t like writing fight scenes. Come on over for advice on writing fight scenes from someone who hates writing them.
//
One of the most fun things about having a book release these days is the #bookstagram world. So many book lovers make gorgeous collages with my book cover – like this one from Reading Between the Wines Book Club – and then tag me on Instagram. With THE ORCHID THRONE, I’m getting all kinds of beautiful orchids and it rocks so hard!
The hubs and I have been watching Reign on Netflix – from the beginning as we’d never seen it – and we’re a few episodes into Season One. I realize I’m late to the game on this, as the show ran from 2013 to 2017. But I’ve seen so many people – like my editor Jennie at St Martins – who just LOVE this show, that I wanted to check it out. And it’s gotten me thinking about historical accuracy in fiction. Come on over to find out more.
//
I can’t believe that THE ORCHID THRONE releases this week! Feels like it was forever away for so long, and suddenly it’s here. Woo hoo!
Our topic at the SFF Seven is Creating representation in our stories – how do you do it, and make sure you do it well. That last bit is key, right? Because about the only thing worse than not having representation of marginalized groups in our stories is having them in there, but in awful ways. Come on over to read more.