Category Archives: Blog

Day 32: Biba Jibun Sold to Apex and Article Reprint

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Day 32 and I’m still hanging in there…mostly by my fingernails. This almost-in-the-homestretch-but-not-quite part of the legislative session is when my nerves, sense of humor, and patience start getting frayed and frazzled. But the tunnel has a light, and I’m speeding toward it. Calmblueocean.

Writing Updates:
As I tweeted yesterday, I sold my short story “Biba Jibun” to Apex Magazine! Absolutely thrilled to have another story of mine published by these fine folks. Getting that “we want it” note from Jason Sizemore totally made my day.

I also had reprinted my “A Writer’s Resolution: I Will Submit” article in the March/April 2011 issue of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators New England newsletter, The NEWS.

And I managed another 1,400 words on Dragon Queller:

37704 / 85000 words. 44% done!

I’ve hit a bridge section that I’m not sure what to do with. I know what happens after it, but I’m uncertain how to get there from the scene I just completed. I’ve been writing this linearly thus far, and I’d like to try to keep doing that; I think it results in less cutting down the editing road. But I don’t want to just spin my wheels on a bridge scene either. Going to do a bit of an editing pass on a couple chapters and see if that joggles or jump-starts anything. Otherwise, we’re wrinkling the damn line.

Writers for Relief 3 and Crossover Day

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The fabulous Davey Beauchamp, in the tradition of Writers for Relief 1 to Benefit the Survivors of Katrina and Writers for Relief 2 to benefit the Bay Area Food Bank, is putting together a third volume of his Writers for Relief charity anthologies, this one to benefit the survivors of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. He invited me to submit a story, and I’m delighted to say that “The Snow Woman’s Daughter” will be appearing in Writers for Relief 3.

Davey is the king of big hearts. I’m so glad he’s doing this and that I can be a part of it.

In other news, today is Day 30 of the 2011 legislative session, Crossover Day. It’s not even noon, I’ve edited a slew of rush amendments, and my brain hurts. Gonna be a loooong day.

Still plugging away on Dragon Queller. 5.5K new words in the last week. Average daily word count: 800.

Shiny progress bar:

36,296 / 85,000 words. 43% done!

Day 26: The Day Job is Totally Kicking My Ass…But I’m Still Writing

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The 2011 Legislative Session is being a tricksy thing. Started out deceptively mild, but it’s shifted into full gear and is now thrashing my ass. Weekends and late nights galore.

This week looks to be pretty hellish. All the legislators are scrambling to get their bills introduced before Day 30, Crossover Day–when bills have to pass at least one chamber or be dropped–coming up next Wednesday.

Put aside the novel last week to work on another writing project, but just fired that baby off (it’s still in the glint-in-the-eye stage, so I can’t say more about it). Now getting ready to pick Dragon Queller back up. Overall, words-per-day dropping to less than 500, but the important thing is to keep chugging away. Right? Right??

Gah.

Day 21: Princess and the Golden Fish: Part 3 Now Out and Writing Progress

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It’s Day 21 of Georgia’s 2011 Legislative Session, and we’re now officially past the halfway mark.  The day job is utterly cleaning my clock.  Spent all of Sunday at the capitol, and I must’ve looked pretty haggard yesterday, ’cause my co-editors shooed me home as soon as the office closed…or maybe it was the number of times I careened off a wall or door jam.  (There’s a marked and dramatic correlation between how mushed my brain is and how klutzy I am; I seem to lose peripheral vision and stop being able to gauge distance-to-wall/door with any accuracy.)

However, I’m still making good progress on Dragon Queller.  Averaging between 800 and 900 words a day and have put down a whopping 25K since session began.  Rah.  Keeping on keeping on.

In other news, got my contrib. copies of the March issue of Cricket with part 3 of “The Princess and the Golden Fish.”  Shiny:
Continue reading →

Day 13: Calculating a Formula for Writing Productivity

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So we’re one month into the 2011 legislative session, and we’re only at Day 13.  I’m a little scared of what that may portend. 

On the writing front, I’ve managed 16.4K words on Dragon Queller, 11.5K of those since session began.  Not quite at the “novella” marker but well into “novelette.” From past experience with my novel efforts, I tend to hit my “oh-my-god-this-is-too-long-must-stop-now” wall somewhere into the novella range. My short story writer’s instinct kicking in or something. But since this is my first actual, bona fide sequel, I’m thinking maybe I won’t be smacking into that particular obstacle. I hope.

Also, as Matthew observed, that’s a better month’s word count than a lot of my non-session writing months. Been suffering from more insomnia, too.  There’s a formula somewhere in there. If I can figure out the proper ratios of time crunch pressure, generalized stress, and sleep deprivation to maximize writing productivity, I’ll have the ultimate Eugie-writing-machine.

Yeah, I’ll let everyone know as soon as I figure that out…

Thumbs Up from My Agent and The Princess and the Golden Fish: Part 2 Now Out

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Finished my final revisions on Demon Queller and, with heart thumping and sweating palms, shipped it off to my agent. Just heard back from him, and he really liked it! I am unable to properly express the profoundness of chuffed that I am.

And now, of course, comes the waiting.

So far, managing around 350 words a day on the sequel, Dragon Queller. Not exactly what I’d call great productivity, but considering its session, I’ll take it. Three chapters down, 6,607 words and counting. It’s a start.

Also got my contrib. copies of the February, 2011, issue of Cricket with part two of “The Princess and the Golden Fish.” Yay! Continue reading →

Ruminations on Writing: My Aging Brain and Trying to Keep it Shipshape and Yar During Session

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So this year, I’ve decided that I’m going to try to not take a hiatus from writing during the legislative session. I’ve mentioned time and again how after a prolonged break from writing it feels like my writing muscle has atrophied and I need to build it up again.  It’s getting harder and harder to tone it back up these days.  Compounding the stress of session with the stress of writing might be the height of folly, and I’m sure there will be episodes of frustration and failure, but I think it’s something I should attempt.

I’ve noticed that those elusive, transcendent periods of writing flow, where the words and the story stream from mind to page in a euphoric epiphany of rightness are becoming not so much elusive as extinct.  I’ve waved the “Writing is Hard Work” banner at nearly every panel I’ve spoken on.  I know better than to expect cake.  But there have been vast stretches of time—months and months and months—where it seems all my hours of writing, day after day, have been spent groping for words that never come.  I’d almost forgotten what flow felt like until one day last month when I was working on an additional scene for Demon Queller, and I hit it.   Then it was totally, “Oh, yeah.  I remember this. This is what writing-love feels like. Where have you been, baby?”  And I realized that the last time I remembered hitting flow was…one year, no two, maybe could it have been even longer ago?  And that made me go buggy. Continue reading →

Taking an Ice Day and a Sneak Peek of the 2011 Nebula Awards Showcase Anthology

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The weather service has extended the freezing rain advisory, the haphazardly plowed roads are now covered in an accumulating sheet of ice, the MARTA ramp is still closed and bus service shut down, and the General Assembly is adjourned today. While I don’t mind snowy roads, I do mind icy ones, so I’m staying home and off the roadways.

Ice Day!

Going to use the time to work on novel revisions of Demon Queller. Also to try to catch up on my to-do list. Been completely focused these last couple weeks on finishing “Beneath the Silent Bell” before the deadline and before session began, but I’m now coming up for air. My email’s inbox is littered with starred “reply needed” notes that I’m just starting to wade through. If you’re waiting on a reply from me: 1. Sorry for the extended radio silence! and 2. It’s coming!

In other news, got the galleys of “Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast” for the 2011 Nebula Awards Showcase anthology from editor Kevin J. Anderson. And he also included a sneak peek of the cover. Check it out: Continue reading →