Sunday, January 15, 2023

A Workout in Vegas

 So last week I found myself in Las Vegas, Nevada, attending a Fantasy Caper writing workshop taught by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, who as a bestselling author knows a thing or three thousand about writing that kind of a story.

Along with nine other writers, I attended lectures, wrote exercises and a short story, and let me tell you - it wasn't easy.  This is a difficult subgenre to write well, a lesson we all quickly learned as we struggled with bringing enough description into our exercises and stories.

Understand that all the writers attending (myself included) are not bad writers.  Kris made a point of repeating that fact over and over.  This is hard, she said.  It's a new thing you're learning.

Writing a fantasy caper is like trying to walk, chew gum, juggle, skip rope, and yodel - all at the same tine.  There are a lot of different things going on in such a story, and you need to be on top of all of them.

I have my notes and assignments.  I look forward to adding this tool to my writer's toolbox.

Some of you are probably asking, "But did she have fun?"

Why, yes, yes I did.  I got to spend time with friends I hadn't seen in real life for a bit.  I got to write, something that I enjoy.  But, in case you're wondering, I didn't gamble.  For one thing, there was no time.  For another, I needed my money for meals, which were expensive, though overall good quality.

I'm back home and nearly caught up on sleep.  It was a great time working out my writing muscles.  I hope I will be able to attend another one in the future.

Sunday, January 1, 2023

Happy New Year!

 I hope your year got off to a decent start today.  

I took a look over my accomplishments in writing in 2022.  I wrote a total of 246,529 words.  Not the 300k I was aiming for but it still counts as my second-best year ever writing.  So I'm counting that as a win.

I wrote 15 short stories and a novel in 2022.  I sold 3 of the short stories and published one.  I also published a collection .

Getting things sent and published is a weakness for me.  It's something I want to work on in 2023, as well as continuing to make new words.

In the weeks and months ahead, I'll try to share with you what I'm doing in these areas.  The next big thing on my list is a Fantasy Caper workshop in Vegas that starts a week from tomorrow.  I'm having fun writing a story for the workshop.

May 2023 be an improvement over 2022.  Thanks for walking this road with me.

Blast from the past

  The above picture is of my granddaughter Lavinia and her sweet mama from six (!) years ago.  Lavinia is dressed as a squirrel, her daddy&#...