Archive for the 'Writing' Category



WOTF Once Again…

Fist of the Black Bird has been posted as an Honorable Mention in this year’s third quarter of The Writers of the Future Contest.  It comes as no great surprise, considering the story’s weak fantasy element.  And, at the least, the contest has once again provided me with the impetus to write and make presentable a story […]

WorldCon Remainder

I really should make this several nice, long, chatty blogs…but, ya know, life is moving on and I’m moving on with it.  So you’ll get the crammed, somewhat shorter version.  And my graduation report?  It’ll probably be even more crammed and tardy as well.
The rest of WorldCon was great, though a bit blurred.  We met […]

Tossed Travel with no Dressing on the Side

Yesterday was one of those days when it’s hard to tell if your life is cursed or blessed.  On the one hand, we just caught our first flight despite longer lines than expected for 6:00 in the morning, and were on one of the last flights allowed to take off for Houston, landing site of wanna-be […]

Trinocon Highlights and WorldCon Clothes

The pieces fell into place at the last minute for us to attend Trinocon, so we scooted over there and enjoyed our first relaxacon.  We made a pretty full day of it, with lots of good panels, but my favorite panel would have to be the world building one in which we, the audience, got […]

Hammers, Plotting, and Bruised Fingers

No, I haven’t been doing construction.  Or at least, not in metal and wood.
I have been working on the plot for my Keela novel, the rules for my magic system and the construction of my world.  Though on a global scale, that last bit was the easiest ’cause I’ve been writing stories in this world for […]

WOTF Again

I really hadn’t planned on entering this quarter, as I knew I didn’t have time to pull together a story from scratch.  But while working on other projects I came across an incomplete story I worked on two years ago but never got back to.  Ironically, I had intended it (in June of 2006) to […]

Chrysalis vs. Cocoon

I was reading my daughter a slightly insipid but still enjoyable bedtime story–and, no, that’s not how I described it to her–when she interrupted.
‘Wait–that caterpillar said it’s going to make a cocoon, but that would mean it had to become a moth.  So why does it say it will be a butterfly?’
I had to laugh, […]

Infinity Version Three

I’m cutting, expanding, editing and re-working three stories right now.  All are being prepped for specific markets and have already been through a thousand and one edits, or so it feels.
And let me just say, keeping track of the versions can be a royal pain.
It should be simple.  Version 1, 2, 3, etc. ad inifinity.
But […]

Linked Up

See if you can find the common thread:
More of the big guys still undiscovered in the ocean, but little chance of the Loch Ness turning up, or so they say.
A report on ten new species, though a little long on propaganda and a little short on information about the individual species.  Eight and four are my […]

WorldCon and Submissions

I have my WorldCon schedule–and let me just say, it is sooo awesome to have a WorldCon schedule!
I’m on a panel Saturday at 2:30 (or 14:30) with the working title of ‘Getting to the top: Mountains in Fact and Fiction’.  Should be fun.
I’ll also be hanging out at the Hadley Rille Books Ruins signing, assuming such a […]