Natasha Deen's Blog, page 21

You know you’re Albertan…

Ha! You know you’re an Alberta baby when you look at yesterday’s high temperature (-39), compare it to today’s (-33), and celebrate that “Oh, yes! It’s warming up!”

The You Too Anthology is Out Today

Amazon US https://amzn.to/39poyeW

Amazon CA https://amzn.to/2ME2dQP

Lord of the Ringing in the New Year

We’ve had a family tradition of watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy ever since we saw the Fellowship of the Rings in 2001.

And I have to say, watching Gandalf the Grey throw off his cloak and reveal himself to be Gandalf the White is all the Glow-Up inspiration I need for 2020.

Best Laid Kitty Plans

The downside with an odd sleep pattern and 3 furry besties who have unique sleep patterns is that I’m awake every couple of hours.

Early this morning, I thought I’d get smart about feedings and my snoot & book wake-up calls. I had a handful of cat food in my PJ pocket (if you’re wondering how women’s PJs can have pockets in their pants, they can’t. Apparently, there’s a law against that. I bought men’s PJs).

When The Sir came to the foot of the bed and sang for his second breakfast, I was...

GSMC Book Review Podcast Episode 197: Interview with Natasha Deen

My interview with GSMC host, Sarah, is live! It was a lot of fun and definitely, one of the coolest things about being a writer is a chance to connect to readers from all around the world. ^_^

Pro tip for revisions #213

Make sure if you’re saving your manuscript to the cloud, you have your cloud account OPEN, so you don’t risk losing 4 hours of work! (Luckily, I always save a back-up copy to my hard drive & that’s what caught the edits).

 

A day to catch my breath

Ugh…been dealing with a WIP that WON’T END. Two years, 1st draft at 80K was burned, then I did another 87K, and that was burned, now I’m at 72K…and…maybe it’s working?

At least, I like the first-one hundred pages.

So, I’ve sent it off to some CPs and we’ll see what they say. In the meantime, I’m going to have some kind of celebratory treat and then go play in another story playground. ^_^

What might be my favourite lines from John Wick 3

Sophia: He shot my dog.

John: I get it.

Such a simple exchange, but rich in nuance and subtext. If anyone follows the franchise, then you know John Wick is a master assassin, feared by all, and the first movie was all about his puppy motivation & getting revenge/vengeance.

The above dialog reminds me of a few things:

A small, powerful intro can do wonders in setting up your character and their motivation.

Referencing said motivation/personality is great for texturing and confirming your character’s character.

Dialog doesn’t have to be wordy or...

In The Key of Nira Ghani nominated for a 2020 Forest of Reading Award

So excited to see that Nira’s story is a nominee for the 2020 Red Maple Award!

The last quarter of 2019

It’s so odd to think that 2019 will be over in 3 months. I feel like it’s just begun. Or perhaps, I feel as though there should be a rewind button.

I struggled with the writing starting in November 2018, where nothing worked and nothing made sense, and that storm only broke in July.

So, I suppose I want those lost 6 months back, so I can catch up on the writing and feel less sad about the state of my manuscripts. But, I wonder, **should** I call them “lost months?”

I mean, we learn through go...