Blair MacGregor's Blog, page 19
March 1, 2014
Wordle Before Revisions
Wordle is fun. No doubt about it. Your text-chunk of choice, arranged and colored and sized by most-used words, in a format you can alter and edit and shape to make it most pleasing to your eye.
But it’s also a cool little pre-revision tool. Here’s why I like it:
First, take a look at the Wordle for Sand of Bone.
Much of the Wordle looks as I’d suspect. Names of viewpoint characters are prominent: Syrina, Pyrius, Raskah, Shella. But I didn’t expect secondary characters to show up as such large p...
February 28, 2014
What Causes Success?
Some will say it’s talent. Others will say it’s marketing. But the research done by Matthew Salganik points to something else as a the final step from obscurity to success. It’s something we don’t yet understand, and so we call it… luck.
Salganik wanted to know why some things—a painting, a song, other artistic works — become the Most Greatest Super Things while others of seemingly equal artistic quality plummeted into nothingness with scarcely a whisper. So he created a bunch of online worlds...
February 27, 2014
Wiscon Bound!
I registered today for Wiscon! I even put in to be on a panel! Yeah, the panel isn’t related to writing craft and such, but I still think there is a multitude of writers out there who know much more than I do about any and all of those panel topics. I’d rather listen to them than myself.
Ya know what else is cool? There are panels specific to self-publishing, and I didn’t see a single one with a title akin to, “Is it real?” or “Is it a good choice?” or “Will it ruin your career?” It simply is....
February 22, 2014
Field Trip Day!
For weeks, my son Dev and I have been scheduling–and having to cancel–a trip to the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Today, we finally made it, and I definitely needed the break. For writer-me, it was a research day as well. For Dev, it was a school day. We win! 
The museum is both restful and stimulating. We spent a huge amount of time appreciating the African Art galleries, but somehow completely missed the North American collections. We wandered the galleries of European and Asian art, sometime...
February 17, 2014
The Annual Viable Paradise Post
A few folks have ended up at my website via a search for information on Viable Paradise, so I figure it’s time for an “official” post.
For those who don’t know, Viable Paradise is a week-long workshop for writers of science fiction and fantasy. I attended in October 2011 and cannot overstate what the experience did for my writing, my confidence, and finding my “place” in a community of creative people. In the past, I’ve referred folks back to my LiveJournal posts for more information. I’ve dec...
Deciding About Viable Paradise
This is a re-post from January 2012 about Viable Paradise, the week-long workshop for writers of science fiction and fantasy. I’m placing it here so folks searching for information on Viable Paradise can find it more easily.
This is a Viable Paradise entry for those folks who have gone searching for Viable Paradise information–hoping it will help them decide to apply–and somehow ended up at my little LJ. I know I went looking, and read every little comment I could find. (I did that for years b...
Between The Words
This is a re-post from October 2011, written shortly after I returned home from Viable Paradise, the week-long workshop for writers of science fiction and fantasy. I’m placing it here so folks searching for information on Viable Paradise can find it more easily.
I attended Viable Paradise for writerly reasons, and received a monumental amount of guidance and information and advice and inspiration and and and… and you get the idea.
But here’s what’s true: By the end of the week, the most importa...
February 16, 2014
In Deep
I’m nearly finished with the rewrite of Sand of Bone.
Hmm. “Rewrite” sounds too small. It’s turned into more of a total remodeling–the kind that involves stripping off three layers of disgusting wallpaper so the walls can be patched, ripping up tattered carpet so the original wood floors can be restored, replacing the windows, putting on a new roof, and upgrading the plumbing and electrical. Then I’ll set to revisions–new brass hardware, intricate moldings, so on and so forth. By the time it’s...
February 5, 2014
Not-Reviews and Links
On this snowy day, I’m taking a break from Sand of Bone revisions. My darlings, I know the revision process has gone on far too long–so long that it feels quite irresponsible to take a break of any sort. But, well… Here we are.
I’ve been reading and muchly enjoying Kate Elliott’s Spiritwalker trilogy. I could go on and on about how much I enjoy the characters and their interactions, or how tickled I am to see the insides of a revolution amidst a realistically convoluted world. But one of the o...
January 8, 2014
To Make It Easier
Time is valuable. So is energy. Here are a few things that might give you a little more of both precious and limited resources.
First: 40 Meals in 4 Hours. The page has links to a ton of recipes you assemble ahead of time and pop in the freezer. The night before, you defrost whichever meal you’d like in the fridge, then dump it in the crockpot in the morn. I’ve never managed all 40 meals, but have put together a half dozen or so. Best of all, the meals make enough for four, so every recipe I c...
