Lilith Saintcrow's Blog, page 215

A State Of Focused Wonder

Cross-posted to the Deadline Dames. Our anniversary is coming up, with lots of giveaways and other cool things. Stay tuned…

I've been writing about writing pretty much every day this week, and I'm fighting off a cold, so I'm staring at the Friday blog post and wondering what the hell to say. The week has somewhat sneaked-up on me, batting its eyelashes and promising me that I'd be able to get everything done.

Then it turned around and ran away laughing. That should have been my first clue.

Anywa...

Keep Showing Up

There comes a point in every book where one realizes one is not writing the damn book. The damn book is taking shape under one's fingers, according to its own will and desires. You might as well just be a tube the words are coming through. Although the story needs the tube to contain it–and to work to put it on the page–it certainly doesn't, well, obey.

I think this frightens a lot of people who want to write. The sense that they might not be in control, or that the story might be coming...

Upward And Inward

Some days the words are a trickle. Other days, a torrent. Just over 3k on the fourth Dru book yesterday, and today is shaping up to be the same. The recent changes in my living situation have been incredibly uncomfortable emotionally, but it appears my creative equilibrium has returned. I am extraordinarily glad about that.

There's a caution in that, of course. I've been asked to be very careful that I don't use the creative flow as a means of escape. I'm of two minds about that. On the one...

Genre Reading While Genre Writing

Dame Jenna has posted today on whether to read in the genre you're writing in. I actually end up not reading in whatever genre I'm writing in, mostly because to do so bores and overwhelms me. I need other genres to balance out whatever I'm writing. If I'm working on, say, young adult, I want to be reading nonfiction. If I'm writing UF, I tend to read military history. I usually read fiction during Selkie book challenges or in-between novels. It's just how I'm wired.

I do agree with Dame Jenna ...

Keep The Joy

Crossposted to Deadline Dames, where there is more high-quality writing advice than you could shake a stick at. Go check 'em out!

Today I underwent pain for something I love.

I'm not quite a tattoo junkie, but I do crave ink sometimes. The endorphin rushes–I think your body runs out of pain transmitters and starts firing feel-good across the gaps to compensate–are a reward during the process, but it's really afterward when the work is done and a full-body flush and tingle hits that I...

They Like It Better That Way

I was up to greet the dawn. Neither Aurora nor I were happy about that, but we were polite. She wore gorgeous pink and orange, but I was yawning and my eyes were watering too much to see it.

I am proceeding apace with checking the copyedits on Jealousy. I love it when a copyeditor catches your rhythm and you fall into a workable tandem with them. It makes everything ever so much easier. I finished roughly half of the edits last night, and I'm heading into the second half today. The second...

Optimism Proceeds Apace

First, the links: there's a giveaway of Flesh Circus over at NL Berger's place. And here's an opinion piece about how the Internet does not mean the death of publishing. Oh, and nuts in Texas might be affecting the textbooks your children will use. (This last one is why I'm so glad I have a great deal of information and supplementary reading for my kids just hanging around the house.)

It's been a time of big changes here at Casa Saintcrow, and we've just accomplished one of the biggest. Which ...

Answering Questions

The first day back from a vacation and already I'm looking at the pile of work in front of me and feeling like…oh, weeping would be an alternative, wouldn't it? No, of course not. And besides, I worked all the way through vacation, so it's not so bad. True, I did put some things on the docket for the first week back because, well, it was supposed to be the holidays. So, today and tomorrow are for short stories and wordcount.

Since it is the first day back, I should take this opportunity to...

The Mystery of the Mask

Crossposted to the Deadline Dames. Check us out!

Let's talk about magic.

Plenty of magic[1:] is the utilization of more-or-less psychological principles to effect a change in the practitioner. Where there's belief, there's a sword to be used. Swinging it effectively takes practice and self-knowledge. The things you believe about yourself and how the world works, especially those core beliefs you hold on a unconscious level, affect your daily (and indeed, the rest of your) life to an incredible d...

Goodbye, 2009

Well, another year has come to a close. It's been a helluva ride. I've been broken and remade, done things I never thought I could do, and kept going the whole time. The things I feared most happened, and I discovered the world didn't end. I've discovered I'm actually pretty capable, and lots of things I was taught and trained to believe about myself are not true. It's been an uphill battle all the way, but now I feel like I've reached a hilltop and am looking around wild-eyed with my sword i...