Cate Tiernan's Blog, page 3

Wriiiitttiiiinnng

I get a lot of questions about how I got started writing, where do I get my ideas, how did I think up all this stuff. Since I'm wrestling with the outline for the second Immortal Beloved book, I'm dealing with these issues right now. The "how I got started" part is explained in a couple of places, including the recent interview at BlogCritics. I posted its link on the Blog page because I haven't figured out how to access the News page. (Oh, yeah–I'm not technical. But then you knew that....

An Interview

Here's an interview that posted at BlogCritics.

http://blogcritics.org/books/article/...

I never know how I come off in things like that . . .

Answers to Questions, or "Beyond my Control"

Hi–

I've been getting so many great letters through this site, and I really appreciate it. I know I'm really slow at answering them, but I do intend to, swear. But there's a whole genre of questions that I can answer right now, all at once.

Basically, I write the books and the publisher pays me, and that's pretty much the extent of what I have influence over. Sometimes they mention cover ideas or show me ads they're thinking of doing, but I don't really have much say. I'm not complaining; I'm ...

Get a Load of Me!

This is an article about trends in YA fiction. I never thought they would actually use anything I said.

Women's Wisdom, Part Deux

In addition to my reading, I learn from people all the time. People around me, people I know, people I don't know. I also have a posse–we meet every couple of weeks and talk about stuff. Lately we've been talking about Life Lessons, and I told them about the post I put on here about the stuff I had learned. So last week when we met, we all shared different life lessons. There were a handful we had universally included–but there were also quite a few that made us do a forehead-slap and go...

Women's Wisdom

The longer I go along in my life, the more it seems like the universe is cradling me, showing me what I need to see, providing teachers when I'm ready to learn, making things come together and crop up and appear when I need them to so that everything is working together in balance. It may very well have been doing this all along, my whole life, but for the most part, I wasn't ready to see it. I do find that the more open I am to learning, the more I learn. I've had huge long periods in my...

Quick update/Balefire

Hi–

I've been meaning to write a new blog entry, but have been swamped with work. However, so many of you have written in, asking about Balefire, that I wanted to put out a general info update.

Balefire (except for the first book) is out of print. I only realized this myself a couple months ago, and have talked to the publisher about reissuing it, like they did with Sweep. As of right now, I don't think it's on their schedule. Balefire sold in much, much fewer numbers than Sweep, and I guess ...

The Turn of the Wheel

A new year. I wonder why they decided to start a new year right in the middle of winter? It would make more sense to have a brand-new year start at the beginning of spring, IMO. That's when everything feels new. That's when the light changes and things are budding and one has a new sense of life and possibilities after the darkness of winter.

A friend of mine posted a sped-up film clip of an entire "day" in Fairbanks, Alaska, in the middle of winter. Their whole solar day lasts about 3.5...

Life Lessons

I see life as one big learning experience. I've learned exquisite, soul-changing things, and also stuff that I would have much preferred not to learn. But in general, I find learning to be about the most satisfying and meaningful thing about living every day. Knowledge is never wasted. It's something of infinite value that, once owned, can never be taken away.

There are many, many things, good and bad, that can truly be learned only by experiencing them oneself. But there are lots of things...

Post-Thanksgiving Post

Today is Monday, and the holiday is over. I actually went back to work yesterday, going through the copyedited manuscript for Immortal Beloved. I do love this story, and still enjoy rereading it, even after twelve times, or however many times it's been. I love the theme of an unhappy person redeeming herself and becoming happier by becoming more in tune with and true to herself. I think that's a life lesson so many of us need to keep learning.

Someone recently asked me for advice about how to ...