Roderick T. Macdonald's Blog, page 5
January 14, 2025
Frustration, Formatting, and Fast Fiction
Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! I am loath to admit it, but my publication process has stalled. I had a formatter, but they appear to have gone incommunicado. I hope they are okay, but I need to move on. To that end, I have decided to dip my toe in the waters of …
January 7, 2025
Methodological Madness and Intuitively Plotting your way out of Pantsing!
Hello, my friends and occasional relative! I have re-engaged with self-directed learning this week, and have been watching and taking notes from the highly helpful Ellen Brock. I think I first bookmarked a video of hers ten years ago, and only now do I sit down to actually pay close attention! My intention is to …
Continue reading Methodological Madness and Intuitively Plotting your way out of Pantsing!
December 31, 2024
The Writing Life: The Treasure in Trash, a Convert’s Tale.
Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! First off: happy Hogmanay! Best wishes to you all in 2025. I wrote a long blog about conflict and co-operation as a follow up to my discussion of complexity and coherence, and rather disappeared up my own fundament in the process, lots of dubious anthropology and theories …
Continue reading The Writing Life: The Treasure in Trash, a Convert’s Tale.
December 25, 2024
The Writing Life: Complexity and Coherence
Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! This is my third stab at this blog. I’ve missed weekly deadlines as a result. Originality warning! There isn’t any here, but I wanted to say it anyway. The world is a complex place. We are complex creatures. But we delight in reducing the complex to the simple, …
December 10, 2024
It’s a Cover Reveal! (And then sleep)
Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! Sorry for the absence of blog last week: I was being mostly off-grid, which was delightful. This week: new cover reveal! Ta da! The off-gridness was a result of me being busy during travel, and my body wants more sleepy byes, so now I’m going to do that. …
November 26, 2024
Books are like Christmas Trees
This is going to be brief, because I have little time. Every year my wife and I put up the same tree. It has the same ornaments (with an extra one or two to commemorate any travels we may have been on), the same lights, the same insane amount of tinsel garlands that I insist …
November 19, 2024
Jazzed to Sluggishly Meet you, My dear Boswell.
Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! I have had two full strength coffees. I should be powered up beyond belief. But I ate two grotesquely sugared cookies (I was sugar free for about 5 months this year and fell off the wagon just before Hallowe’en, not a good time to give in to temptation! …
Continue reading Jazzed to Sluggishly Meet you, My dear Boswell.
November 12, 2024
Plans for the Future, and Religion in Fantasy
Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! I hope you have had a great week. Mine was good, if littered with snowy commutes of which I am not fond. Experiments in marketing go on. Self-education on many fronts continue to be delayed, which is a little depressing because I keep adding things to the pile …
Continue reading Plans for the Future, and Religion in Fantasy
November 5, 2024
Hard Lessons (and Progress)
Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! Front cover is finalized. Paperback and hardback covers are underway. Formatting proceeds, and once that and the print covers are complete I will have a book ready to go. So hopefully all will be in place by the end of this month. Fingers crossed, but monkeys armed with …
October 30, 2024
Variables and Variations
Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! The front cover is finalized, with paperback and hardback layouts to come. The formatting corrections are in process. I have been brave and put The Killer and The Dead up for review on BookSirens. This is part of my time to embrace new aspects of book business, and …
