Lazette Gifford's Blog, page 82

Current Projects: Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour # 22

As many people know, I have strict rules when it comes to starting new projects. First, I make myself finish everything I start (and learn a lot from the stories that give me trouble) This makes me slow to start new things before I feel that they are solid stories. I might do a few notes, but once I hit outline or first draft, it will go all the way to the end of that version. I might do

The last 2YN book -- and rant

The last of the Two Year Novel Course is now published! I had originally intended to have nine sections, but I did it in eight instead. The original eighth section felt too short to release on it's own. So eight and nine became a single book: Final Editing, Submissions and Publishing. The Submissions and Publishing sections had a huge reworking to include new material on the world of

Flash Friday # 42: The Last

 

 

Ogden leaned closer, finishing the embroidery along the collar. The computer could have done better, but it wouldn't have meant anything to the machine like it did to him.




"Hurry, old man."



"Leave him alone."



Alone: The last born on Earth and to remember walking on any world. Those born on the ship couldn't understand him. Captain Hoglin had walked with him to the ship.

Flash Friday # 41: Turning the Page

Turning
the Page


By


Lazette
Gifford


 


Small
shops littered the streets of Nova's old sector.  Built of hand-hewn stone from the first days
of settlement, they crowded around narrow paths following no grid.


 


Jamil
glanced at windows. These quaint shops had been homes for the first settlers
before they settled into farms.  The city
had grown and built over the first farms, and

Flash Friday #40: A Frog's Tale

 

 

This story is a feghoot, which is a pun story (the pun will be at the end).(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feghoot)






Murray was an unpretentious frog. He wasn't big like Gregor, who pretty much ruled the pond, though he wasn't mean. It was just if Gregor said to jump -- well, you did jump.



Murray also didn't jump as high and splendidly as Airy, who had his name because he could

Flash Friday # 40: A Frog's Tale

 

 

This story is a feghoot, which is a pun story (the pun will be at the end).(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feghoot)






Murray was an unpretentious frog. He wasn't big like Gregor, who pretty much ruled the pond, though he wasn't mean. It was just if Gregor said to jump -- well, you did jump.



Murray also didn't jump as high and splendidly as Airy, who had his name because he could

Novels? Short Stories? Both?

Here is something I was told by more than one published author: Not everyone is a short story writer or needs to be. Writing short stories is not a good way to prepare for novels because, except for some technical aspects (grammar, spelling, etc.) they are not alike. Anyone who actually writes both knows this is true.


Many novelists do not write short stories and have no inclination to

Flash Friday #39 -- Waiting for M'Lady to Drown

I
could tell from the look in m'lady's doe brown eyes that she didn't believe the
rumors about Sir David's last wife.  She
doted on him; blushing when he glanced her way, and acting like a school girl
with a crush rather than a woman on her second marriage.


I
saw no mistrust or fear in her.


"More
tea, Jane." Sir David tapped his china cup with a long, perfectly
manicured finger.


"

Two new books and Why just Smashwords?

This week I've released two new novels:



Paid in Gold an Blood (fantasy)


Katashan left behind his past; all the good and the bad, including his belief that the gods would help him in a time of need. Moving to a new land, he has every intention of starting a new life. What he finds, though, is the body of a woman sacrificed at the foot of a statue to a benevolent goddess. Katashan is soon

Writing Routines: Merry-Go-Round Tour #21

Here is my writing routine:


I sit down at the computer. I pull up the current story. I write.


Down through the years, I have developed the ability to write at almost any time and place. For instance, if I have a few minutes between work emails, I go and write a couple hundred words on a story. If I happen to be sitting in the car, I'll often do notes on some story or write a scene (