After the First Book

Today is Day 4 over at NovelSpot’s Behind the Scenes, where I’m talking about that morning-after awkwardness, in the time beyond getting that first book published. What it meant for me was getting serious about craft and writing habits.

Mind the Deadlines

Gorgeous sunset last night. I love how it looks like the sun has set something on fire, with blazing smoke billowing away. Yesterday I was on a phone call for the day job about a report that needs revision. We went over the points and the gal in charge asked me how long it would take me to make the…

Buffing Up

This is not how Baltimore looks this morning. No, Baltimore is moist and grey. I can’t see the rain, but people are going by with umbrellas. I’m missing my Santa Fe blue skies. (Yeah, okay, we had a couple weeks of not so blue – here’s my photo contrasting with the same flowers against a stormy sky from a few…

Crazy for Feeling So… Busy

A soft, spring sunrise this morning. The birds are full of springtime, too – swooping about and singing. They’re terribly busy. One of my writing friends made a comment not long ago that she feels like she’s losing to time. She’s revising and is afraid it’s taking too long. I can understand this. You spend months writing a novel, then…

Four Reasons I Don’t Do NaNoWriMo

The moon behind the clouds last night. I nearly photoshopped out all the little points of light. I suspect they’re artifact – bits of reflected light – but I thought we could pretend they’re stars. On a cloudy night. See? We can have it all. I am a fiction-writer, after all. The writer Harley May sometimes roasts author photos, for…