Sometime in the very near future, reviews of my book will be appearing in the wild. I’ve gotten a lot of well-meaning advice from friends to the effect of “don’t read them.” But let’s be honest, here. I wrote this book. I sent it out for three rounds of Beta. I rewrote parts of it extensively. Continue reading “On Reviews of My Work, and How I’ll Handle Them.”
Category Archives: Personal
The Widening Gyre Now Available For Pre-Order!
Exciting news! The Widening Gyre, my debut novel coming in March from Flame Tree Press, is now available for pre-order (in some formats)! NB: Only the hardcover, paperback, and non-Kindle ebook are currently available to order. If you want it as a Kindle book or an audiobook, you’ll have to wait a bit longer to pre-order.Continue reading “The Widening Gyre Now Available For Pre-Order!”
My First Worldcon
So I attended Worldcon 76, in San Jose, CA. It was my first Worldcon; the last one in my neck of the woods was Reno in 2011, and I was not in a good enough financial space to go to that one. All in all, I enjoyed the experience, but as a baby writer whoseContinue reading “My First Worldcon”
My Harlan Ellison
Harlan Ellison is dead. It seems almost impossible. I’ve been reading Ellison’s work for almost as long as I’ve been reading adult books–and I began reading them when I was about 9 years old. I know I read Paingod and Other Delusions right after my 10th birthday, because that’s when I picked up the collection from whereContinue reading “My Harlan Ellison”
Book I’m Looking Forward To: Trail of Lightning
I’m a dyed-in-the-wool Anglo who identifies as a Scotsman-in-exile, which is to say I come from a long line of mostly-British-descended people who came here from Scotland in the early days of the US, and I wish they’d all stayed in the UK so I could have been born there. That said, I somehow pickedContinue reading “Book I’m Looking Forward To: Trail of Lightning”
My Struggle with Mother’s Day
My mother died when I was five. That means I haven’t seen her, or heard her voice, for 42 years. Truth be told, I don’t even remember what her voice sounded like. I try to imagine it as similar to my aunt’s, but that can only take you so far. The patterns of her voice–herContinue reading “My Struggle with Mother’s Day”
The Ups and Downs of my “Stage Presence”
On Fridays, I allow a few minutes for students to ask me any kind of question they wish. Sometimes they ask about real world things they don’t understand, like the current Korean negotiations, Trump’s actions, etc. Sometimes they’re random questions about the world (many of which could be answered with a fifteen-second Google search), andContinue reading “The Ups and Downs of my “Stage Presence””
Reclaiming My Self
Shortly before I moved to Sacramento, my dad gave me brand-new cowboy boots and a cowboy hat, which I wore often at home while working in the pasture or when riding my horse. When I moved to Sacramento, I kept wearing them, because they were a part of me, and I liked them. But IContinue reading “Reclaiming My Self”
How’s Michael Doing? Some Good, Some Bad.
I had kind of a meltdown last night. More on that later, but first, let’s do the categories… Work Work is work. I just came back from two weeks off for the Winter Holiday Break, and yet I feel like I didn’t get any time off. Kids are both delightful and irritating; some of themContinue reading “How’s Michael Doing? Some Good, Some Bad.”
Rewrite, Work, Home
Rewrite Work proceeds. I was done with chapter one’s rewrite, but then something occurred to me and I had to add a scene or two, so I’m doing that. It’s going to radically change the end of this chapter and the beginning of the new one, but I think it will go a long wayContinue reading “Rewrite, Work, Home”