First Cup of Coffee – August 17, 2019
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First Cup of Coffee – August 12, 2019
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Jeffe’s Earliest Writing (More or Less)
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Our topic at the SFF Seven this week is a challenge. I’m not sure who proposed this, but it goes: “Share tiny snippet from earliest writing of yours that you can get your hands on. This is kind of a dare, and also I’m nosy.”
It IS quite the dare because it’s kind of scary to show this super old stuff. Come on over to find out more about mine.
My WorldCon 2019 Schedule!
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Thursday August 15, 2019
What is SFWA and what can it do for you?
04:30 PM to 05:20 PM (50 minutes)
Join SFWA board members and staff to learn about the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, touching on some of the many programs and services it offers to traditional, hybrid, and indie writers.
Friday August 16, 2019
Autographs: Friday at 13:00
01:00 PM to 01:50 PM (50 minutes)
Introduction to SFF romance
03:00 PM to 03:50 PM (50 minutes)
SFF romance is as varied and creative as the speculative genre as a whole but, along with other romantic subgenres, has often been dismissed and undervalued. From shapeshifting billionaires to far future secret agents, vampire brides to Highland flings, this panel will provide a broad introduction to SFF romance in all its glory as well as providing a range of reading recommendations.
Monday August 19, 2019
Shifts in Irish mythology across the diaspora
01:30 PM to 02:20 PM (50 minutes)
Since 1700, more than 9 million Irish people have emigrated to other parts of the world, taking their stories with them. Do those stories change in the telling the farther they travel? Are the myths shared in Australia or the Americas different to those told in Ireland? The panel will examine Irish mythology across the diaspora and whether distance causes a romanticisation of the source material.
First Cup of Coffee – August 9, 2019
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First Cup of Coffee – August 8, 2019
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When the Algorithm Works
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Sometimes I buy my own books on Amazon. There are a few reasons for this, the primary one being that some publishers, like Kensington, never give me finished digital versions of my books. That means that the last version I’ll have of any of my Kensington books is the Word document where I reviewed copy edits. Yeah, I can accept all changes and make a reading version to send to my Kindle – and sometimes I do that – but the formatting is funky and there can be distracting errors. So, if I want to revisit one of my books and read it on my Kindle (like if I’m not at home to grab the paper copy, or if I want to search for something and not read on my laptop) then it sometimes makes sense just to buy the ebook.
Yes, it IS kind of weird to buy my own ebook.
But, I figured I get some of that money back in royalties, and it gives the book a bump in the Amazon algorithm, which never hurts.
So, I did this last week with THE TALON OF THE HAWK. I’d just finished reading Kennedy Ryan’s LONG SHOT, which deals with an abusive marriage (and is *excellent*), and it got me thinking about how I dealt with recovery and healing from sexual assault. This isn’t something I mentioned about THE TALON OF THE HAWK for a long time, because it felt spoilery, but the book has been out for enough time now that I think I can. The heroine, Ursula, suffered sexual abuse in her youth and wrestles with the scars it left behind. I wanted to reread what I did as a foil to what Kennedy Ryan did in her book.
It was an interesting exercise, and I learned quite a few things about my own writing.
Anyway, today, I got this email from Amazon with “Since you read THE TALON OF THE HAWK.” I get these all the time, as we all do, and I never open them because Amazon is always wrong. This time, though, I thought I should look, just to *see* what their AI thinks is like my book. Thus the screen shot above.
The Tessa Dare historical romance is a bit of an outlier – though I don’t care since Tessa is wonderful – but otherwise it’s pretty damn close! Go figure. And I’m pretty chuffed to be listed with Anne Bishop and Seanan McGuire! And Jessie Mihalik is my agent-sister and an awesome writer of SFR.
I’m over at The Romance of Reading Facebook page today, talking about The Magic of Books. I’m also doing some book giveaways, so come on by and chat!
First Cup of Coffee – August 6, 2019
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First Cup of Coffee – August 5, 2019
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Keeping Up with the Virtual Joneses
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I just returned from a week with my family on Lake Coeur d’Alene. So lovely and relaxing! During some conversation, I mentioned Ed Sheeran, and my aunt – who’d never heard of him – asked me how I kept up on discovering new music.
It was an interesting question, and one I had to think about. Finally I said that I see a lot of recommendations on Twitter. Instagram, too. People share Spotify lists or post YouTube videos. She nodded a little at my answer, clearly a bit daunted at the prospect of emulating me there. So, I sent her two Ed Sheeran albums for her birthday.
Coincidentally enough, our topic at the SFF Seven this week is “Keeping up with trends and changes in social media.” Not an easy thing to do for any of us. Come on over to find out more!