Battling the proliferation of secondary characters, and why that’s key to shorter works. Shipping Alex and Paul on The Morning Show and ruminations on love and unconditional support.
First Cup of Coffee – October 27, 2023
//Tag: Oneira
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First Cup of Coffee – September 29, 2023
//Thoughts today on focus, how to rebuild concentration, and the alarming truth that every interruption costs us 23 minutes of time to regain previous focus. Also more data on trad publishers buying mostly full manuscripts.
First Cup of Coffee – September 15, 2023
//Great week for me! Talking about being up front with my new editor on how I *can’t* write an outline, a bit about knife-throwing and learning to relish failure as much as success, and the monsoon rains of autumn.
First Cup of Coffee – September 11, 2023
//Update on my super-exciting news! I’m still having to be circumspect, but I’m sharing broad strokes, what this means to me, how utterly thrilled I am, and what it means to persist and not set a deadline on goals.
First Cup of Coffee – August 14, 2023
//Critique and other feedback! What makes crit useful and not, how to know what to take and what to discard (Spoiler: it doesn’t get easier), and what we can learn about giving useful critique.
First Cup of Coffee – August 11, 2023
//A story about how Romance continues to be treated like antimatter in some parts of the SFF community. Also, exciting news on ONEIRA, and a bit more about agents and being careful who you pitch to.
Best Laid Plans and Magical News!
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I had Plans for today’s blog post here at the SFF Seven. But we know what the poet said about best-laid plans…
Yes, my day has gang agley.
All in a good way, though. I got a lot done. Important stuff, just not quite the several steps required to post what I hoped to post today. So the short and dirty update is:
- TWISTED MAGIC will have a release date and preorder link soon!! (Though you can already preorder it on my website.)
- Of my new book that I’ve been writing, the one I wasn’t supposed to be writing, but that insisted on being written, which I’ve been calling ONEIRA, Agent Sarah said: “You’ve crafted your very own fairytale, Jeffe and it’s magic.”
- We strategized today, so look for more news on ONEIRA soon! And on TWISTED MAGIC!
First Cup of Coffee – July 28, 2023
//A dive into genre today, along with a discussion of whether there’s an identifiable plot arc for Science Fiction or Fantasy (hint: there isn’t), and what I’ve recently discovered about writing a Romance.
Contemplating Failure
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Know what this is?? It’s a teaser for the cover of TWISTED MAGIC, Book #3 in Renegades of Magic!!
Yes, I have the cover – and have had for a while – but I’ve been hanging onto it until I could set up a release date and preorder link. I’m a bit on tenterhooks at the moment, waiting on feedback from Agent Sarah on the book I wrote that fell on me from out of the sky and insisted on being written: ONEIRA. Once I know whether she wants to take it on submission to traditional publishing or if I’ll self-publish it (in August!), then I’ll be able to set a date for the TWISTED MAGIC release. Meanwhile, you can preorder the book via my website store!
This week at the SFF Seven, we’re talking about failure. Ostensibly, the topic is reassuring ourselves that we are not failures and offering wise words to that effect. I say “ostensibly” because I don’t think it’s possible to say that we are not failures. We are all failures, at some point, in some way, on the large or small scale. Failing at something is a natural part of life. Everything, everywhere, fails to do something or another, usually multiple times, probably more often than they succeed.
I’m being persnickety about this because I think the concept of failure gets a bad rap. As if it’s something we’re supposed to avoid at all costs. I can’t be honest and tell you you’re not a failure. I can’t be honest with myself and say that. I’ve failed at all kinds of things I’ve tried to do. I wrestle daily with facing that I’ve failed to reached certain goals. But the answer isn’t some pep talk where I pat myself on the head and console myself with the comforting words that I haven’t actually failed. That doesn’t benefit me. Instead I have to look at why I haven’t succeeded at what I set out to do. A lot of it may not be within my control. A great deal of publishing isn’t. And it’s good for me to look at that and cut away those things I can’t control – and then focus on what I can control. What can I do better? How can I change my strategy? What can I learn from this failure?
Let me emphasize: failure is okay! We learn from failure.
I’m not going to tell you that you’re not a failure because you are one, just like every other living creature. Life is about the attempt; failure and success are only metrics by which to measure the result. Learn, and live.
First Cup of Coffee – July 24, 2023
//I’m digging into how I balance the various demands of being a hybrid author, giving details on my current decision-tree, how I decide what to give my agent to submit to traditional publishing, etc.
