Tales from the Raven

I’ve been following along with James’ writing essays on whateverville and thought I’d link them here.  I recognize in myself many of the mistakes he describes, that I’ve either made in the past or continue to make.  My worst writing errors are probably:

Writing stuff with generic scenery
Writing stuff in which I’m too subtle and the reader [...]

While of course I’m grateful for many things this Thanksgiving, what comes to mind when listening to friends’ travel plans?  That I’m staying home.
My flying horror stories aren’t that horrendous.  Rude, inconsiderate attendants who treat people as something less than sub-citizen, officious security officers denying my preschooler the water their documents stated she was allowed, time spent standing in lines for beyond [...]

I’m working on my Raven assassin story again this week, and have spent some time fleshing out the world.  This is no chore, since I’d rather build worlds than, say, bake cookies or play at the beach.
But there’s more to world building than stacking up little rows of bucket-shaped sand.  It’s not enough to have [...]

What is it about laundry?  No single item of clothing is too heavy for an old lady to carry, so it can’t very well be considered hard labor.  We buy gleaming machines that take our clothes for a ride and spit them out warm and fuzzy.  The soaps and scrubbies come in such a variety that every [...]

I’ve been patiently waiting for Ghost Spider to go up on AlienSkin, and wondered over the payment I recieved.  Then yesterday I pinged the editor for a status check and it turns out the story ran back in August!  Check out the archived version, if you wish, and tell my spider friend to not be [...]

My flash story Storm’s Rising is up at EDF.  I’ll look forward to chatting with all of you in the comments section.
Soon I hope to disclose the guidelines for a new venture I’ll be a part of–just as soon as we can stop arguing, err, ’discussing’ those guidelines and make it all official.  I’m very excited.

We attended a stamp and coin show at the fairgrounds today and I was thrilled to pick up some nice specimens of ancient Chinese cash, mostly from the Southern Sung.  Of course I wanted to bring it all home, but the coins I picked were pretty cool, though not of any high monetary value.
One of the [...]

If you saw that last post, blink quickly!  That was my entire submission history, and intended to be posted as private.  I must not have gotten the hang of these silly options just yet.
Don’t worry.  It’s gone, so you can open your eyes and look at a world still un-scarred by the submission [...]

Some weeks ago I attended a writing get together where James was guesting, and picked up some interesting points which I’m now putting into place with my latest batch of story submissions.
The other guest was an assistant editor with Baen, and in our discussion he convinced me that I may have been too stingy in my cover [...]

Today while shelling boiled eggs my karma crossed that of a particularly troubled shell–the tiny jagged edge jabbed into my skin and drew blood.  Of course, perhaps I’ve got it all wrong and this signifies my initiation into the brotherhood of chickens.
The ferrets have dug their way under our attic door, removing the troublesome carpet and pad (quite [...]