Sarah Pennington's Blog, page 15

Writing Tips and Tricks (That Shouldn't Work as Well as They Do)

Hey'a, all! As y'all are probably aware, there's a lot of writing advice out there — in fact, depending on how many blogs and newsletters you follow and what kinds of things you search on Google, you probably can't open your email or your internet browser without running into someone telling you how to write better. A lot of that advice, especially in the area of tips and tricks, is pretty standard stuff, but there's some more unusual material out there too — and some of those more unusual tips ...

February 2022 Doings!

And here we are again! It feels like I just did one of these . . . but, of course, February's a short month, and I did end up delaying my January Doings! by a week, so no surprise there. Most of this month's excitement has been writing-related, so let's just jump right in there.

Writing!

On the whole, this was a pretty good writing month! It started, of course, with revealing the cover of Mask of Scarlet — which, friendly reminder, is available for preorder on Amazon! And if you can't wait for the...

No, I'm Not Going to Watch The Rings of Power

 So, here's the thing. Y'all know I love The Lord of the Rings. Y'all also know that I'm not crazy about movies, but that I try to be generous when it comes to book-to-screen adaptations, even when they're not perfectly faithful to the book. I love the Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings films, even if they didn't do Faramir anything like justice. I watched the Hobbit movies in theaters and argued in their favor even when some of their decisions made me more than a little upset. And when I learned t...

Mask of Scarlet Cover Reveal

All right, all right! Who's ready for a cover reveal? (It's me. The answer is me. I'm ready. Hopefully y'all are excited too!) Today, we're debuting the cover of Mask of Scarlet, the third book in the Bastian Dennel, PI series. Like the other covers in the series, it was designed by yours truly! But before we get to that . . .

Nah. I'm kidding. Let's get this shiny out for y'all to admire.

 

Bastian Dennel is a detective, not a matchmaker. 

But he’s also not one to turn down easy mazuma. So when one...

January 2022 Doings!

 

It's the first Doings of 2022! Whoop whoop! January feels like it's been a pretty busy month, mostly because it included, as Bastian would say, a lot of lates and earlies — up as long as I could manage to draft or edit, up before the sun to get to work on time. All in all, though, it wasn't a bad month.

Writing!

The first draft of Mask of Scarlet, aka Bastian Dennel, PI #3, is officially finished! And, if all goes to plan, by the time you read this, the second draft will be at least 70% done as w...

On the Taleweaver's Desk Issue 3: January 2022

Hey'a, all! It's a month into winter, and that means it's time for another issue of On the Taleweaver's Desk, the part of the blog where I unpack the "big picture" of my writing activities and the status of my various writing projects. I think I'll probably be sticking with the format that I put together last time for now, but again, if there's any way you think I can improve this setup, let me know. As always, if you want more information on any project in this post, you can find that on my Wor...

In Which I Ramble About D&D Characters

You may not have picked up on this, but I really like D&D. And my favorite part is arguably creating and developing D&D characters . . . as evidenced by the fact that I have more D&D characters than I'll ever actually play, even when you don't count NPCs with character sheets. It's a nice outlet for the ideas that probably won't fit into any of the stories I have planned (of which there are many). At this point, I have characters built in each of the D&D classes except one . . . but there are de...

End-of-Year Book Celebration 2021!

Hello, hello, hello, my friends! The time has COME for me to review the second half of my 2021 reads! As you may remember, back in June, I rebranded these posts as End-of-Year (and Mid-Year) Book CELEBRATIONS. I mean, I'm not freaking out, but I am getting very exciting and celebrating all the goodness. If you want the short and sweet version, head over to my other blogs for my Top 5 Reads of the second half of 2021. Otherwise, for all the details, read on!

2021 End of Year Book Celebration

As p...

The Year is Going; Let It Go [2021 Recap//2022 Goals]

 

Here's the good news, y'all: no bad puns in this year's post! Probably. There's no actual guarantee, but I can say with confidence that if any show up, they'll be a surprise to both of us.

Anyway, 2022! It exists! We made it! Huzzah! On the whole, 2021 wasn't . . . well, for me, it wasn't as bad as it could've been, and in hindsight, it doesn't feel as bad as it probably should. There were a few objectively non-great things that happened — one in particular — but they were outweighed by all the ...

All the Years Before Her [A New Year's Eve Short Story]

 And here we are! Back with another New Year's Eve short story! This story should stand on its own, but for fullest appreciation, you may want to go back and reread my previous New Year's Eve stories.

All the Years Before Her
The sounds of upbeat music and laughter drifted over the hill from the main camp, through the slowly dying light, and came to rest in Laelia's ears as she knelt by an ancient, weather-worn pillar, cleaning dust from carven grooves with a brush. The words tangled in the trees,...