RITA ® Award-Winning Author of Fantasy Romance
//Our topic at the SFF Seven this week is the Character your readers ask you to write for or are waiting for to get their own story. Come on over for the characters most requested from the Forgotten Empires.
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Check out this super cool video of THE FIERY CROWN from George R.R. Martin’s Beastly Books here in Santa Fe!
This was supposed to be a live event, but it’s virtual now. Instead of a live interview, Melinda Snodgrass, of Star Trek: The Next Generation fame, interviewed me via Zoom and we had a great conversation. You can watch it this afternoon at 4pm Mountain Time here. You can also support this wonderful local indie bookstore by ordering a signed copy of THE FIERY CROWN from them – plus get it well before the May 26 release date! (Or you can preorder via the links below.)
Afterward, I’ll be doing a Facebook Live *and* Instagram Live Q&A. Look for me on Facebook or Instagram, according to your preference. I’ll be on once the Beastly Book event ends, around 5pm Mountain Time.
Our topic at the SFF Seven this week is “Updated writing tools/apps – what’s new and different in your writing world.” My answer? Umm… nothing? I’m pretty happy with my current system, which I’ve been using for years now. I write in Word, track everything on my own spreadsheets I’ve meticulously retooled in Excel, and I save everything in Dropbox. It works well for me and I see no reason to add more “tools.” Come on over for my (non-) answer!
//Our topic at the SFF Seven this week is… knitting? Did our calendar guru pick this for Mother’s Day week, or is it a coincidence?
Anyway, it’s not the knitting you think. (Or not the knitting *I* thought.) We’re asking each other if we write scenes piece by piece and knit them together, or if we have ever had to knit-in scenes? Come over to find out how I handle this.
//Our topic at the SFF Seven this week is “Choosing your freedom – Traditional or Self-Publishing?” We’ve been asked which freedom we picked: the freedom to write without getting into the business side or the freedom to control it all? I bet you know what my answer is…
//Our topic at the SFF Seven this week is reading! Do you set aside time for it each day? How do you decide what to read next? Come on over for my story.
//Our topic at the SFF Seven this week is: books vs movies vs games vs comics. Come on over to tell me which game I should vote for!
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Our topic at the SFF Seven this week is: “The most difficult scene you ever wrote and why.”
I’m guessing that’s why was it difficult, not why we wrote it. Though I do think the why we wrote the scene in the first place is relevant.
There’s a school of thought among writers and writerly-advice givers that if a story becomes difficult – if the writer hits a block and grinds to a stop – then that’s an indicator of Something Gone Wrong. I see this advice a lot. Writers will say – often in response to questions about how they handle Writer’s Block – “When I hit a block, I know I’ve done something wrong, taken a wrong turn somewhere, so I go back and rework the plot.”
You all have heard a version of this, right?
Makes me cringe every time. I’ll tell you why. But you have to go to the SFF Seven to find out.
//Happy Groundhog Day! In celebration of this (dubious) holiday, we here at the SFF Seven will be discussing that THING we find ourselves doing over and over in our books. If that’s not scary, I don’t know what is.
Just last weekend I did a video chat with an author friend, because I asked for her help with some brainstorming. We also chatted about our current projects and deadlines. Now, she’s had multiple books on the NYT Bestseller list and commands enviable advances. She has a large and passionate fandom. But she was at the phase of her current book where she doubted *everything* about it.
I said, “the phase where you’re certain the book is not only TERRIBLE, but the one that will destroy your career forever?”
And she said, “YES!”
This is an inevitable Groundhog Day cycle for me. Come on over to find out more – and how I get through it. Also for news on THE FATE OF THE TALA!
//Our topic at the SFF Seven this week involves our writing schedules – what’s our most productive time of day, when do we actually write, how much time each day, week, month, etc.
I chose this photo I took of the moon at sunrise, because seeing amazing sights like this has become one of the great benefits of being an early riser. Who knew that catching the moon at dawn could be so very beautiful? I certainly didn’t, because I was never naturally an early bird. Come on over to learn more!
//I posted this pic to Instagram Stories asking people to vote on whether this is a helpful cat or not. Something like 82% voted “yes.” (I forgot to look at the final score before the story expired.) This only proves that my tribe of followers are TOTAL CAT PUSHOVERS.
And yes, that’s THE FATE OF THE TALA on the monitor. I was amused by how many people messaged asking if that’s what they spied. Those who listen to my podcast know that I’m struggling with this book, but I’m also at 88K now – which I originally thought would be my total! – and I’m getting there…
NOT helped by cats who insert themselves between my hand and the mouse.
Anyhooo….
Our topic at the SFF Seven this week is our #1 Thing to do to keep our sanity this holiday season. Come on over to find out mine!