It’s October, my favorite time of year, despite that fact that it means the winter blues will probably hit me like a load of wet snow from the roof in a couple of months. I’m crazy about the autumn, as I’ve mentioned here before, and it has been seventy degrees and sunny this week in…
Category Archives: Inspiration
The Tiger’s Wife: Wash the bones, bring the body, leave the heart behind
I’m reading Tea Obreht’s new novel The Tiger’s Wife. This is the sort of book that makes a writer cry with both joy and sorrow. Joy because the writing is so luminous, so simple and beautiful, the stories within stories so straightforward and timeless, and yet not trite. Sorrow because the author was born in…
Throwing a writing party
Today I had a writing party. Several writer friends and their kids came over – the kids to play, the adults to get some work done. We worked for about three hours with only a few breaks to manage the semi-feral pack of five boys, who spent most of the time watching Harry Potter 3,…
Drawing maps of the world
Map of the Seven Cities It’s Day 2 of the YA Novel Challenge. Don’t worry, I’m probably not going to blog about it every day. I don’t have time for that, even though I know you really want me to. But I want to show you my start on draft two. I decided to…
Back from Fairyland
I have found my people at last. I had a blast at WisCon 35 this weekend. I went to panels on self-publishing, using digital information for research, writing non-white characters, Victorian manners in steampunk, magical realism, and being a resilient writer. I hung out with writers, readers, editors, librarians, artists, musicians, graphic designers, and publishers…
What’s on your list of favorite things?
I was out with a friend for Gallery Night in Madison last Friday. It was a perfect evening, mild and dry. People were out on the street drinking plastic cups of champagne and wandering in and out of the funky galleries and coffee shops on the east side. My friend Barb introduced me to Jaroslava…
