Blair MacGregor's Blog, page 5

The Snarky Partner

It is easy — terribly easy —to shake a man’s faith in himself.

To take advantage of that to break a man’s spirit is the devil’s work.

–George Bernard Shaw

Train or talk about martial arts and self-defense long enough, and someone will invariably want to test you. It’s usually annoying or amusing to varying degrees, depending on the person’s attitude, but it can sometimes be frightening.

I’ll talk about that frightening aspect next month. This time, I want to talk about a specific sort of chal...

That Place Between

As you might or might not know, my darling wonderful and faithful Hyundai has needed some work for awhile now. I garaged it about two months ago, knowing I’d have fix-it funds by the end of July, and began driving the Jeep. No biggie.

Last weekend, my sis and I traded cars so she could take her boys camping. No biggie. I picked up the Jeep at the weekend’s endand, as is my driving habit unless it’s damned cold or pouring rain, rolled down the windows. Thus I heard a not-really-great grinding...

Just A Little Preparation

Every now and then, for reasons I can’t always suss out, folks in my social sphere bring up disaster preparedness independently of each other. This time, it seems it’s come about as part of general insecurities and concerns triggered by election talk… which we ARE NOT going to discuss in specifics here, please, darlings! Suffice it to say I’ve had three conversations with politically diverse folks who share some of the same anxieties.

But there’s one conversation in particular that struck me...

Options and Decisions (aka An Abundance of Ideas)

Over the last couple days, I’ve mentioned here and there I’m in the process of evaluating career options, and a subset of that evaluation is choosing the fiction projects that’ll come up once Breath of Stone is launched in the coming month(ish).

The overall career stuff is… complicated. A matter of deciding priorities, time expenditures, current needs, future plans, and professional satisfaction. Some things are working wonderfully, but I’m not certain I want to keep working them. Other thing...

Horse and Writer

Today,I want to share some info and opportunities from Judith Tarr — a fantastic writer, editor and mentor who does this other awesome thing.

Horse camp for writers. With Lipizzans!

Darlings, this is really, really cool. Had I the funds, I’d go in a heartbeat. In fact, it’s one of those things I’ve been planning to do, and would have already scheduled had the Very Big Project not been delayed for months. (And still pending…)

But times have been tough at Dancing Horse Farms. I’ve been in that...

More About Ben Galley

I have a cool thing here, my darlings: Ben Galley — author of Bloodrush, one of ten novels in the Blog-Off Bundle — sharing a bunch of neat thoughts on writing and publishing. Enjoy!

Why did you get into writing?

The reason I got into writing is, very simply, that I am addicted to it, and I have been since a kid. My parent raised me on some of the best fantasy and sci-fi books around – epics like LotR and Dune, to classics like CS Lewis and Greek mythology. Those books and stories bewitched m...

Priests and Heroes, Thieves and Lovers, Blood and Magic

Whether you already own the Fantasy Blog-Off Bundle and are enjoying the ten novels, or are still deciding to choose your own price for the collection chosen by top SFF reviewers, here’s your opportunity to learn more about the writers and their work! There’s talk about epics and blood magic, lovers and shadows, writing and publishing.

David Benem, What Remains of Heroes

Barbara Webb, City of Burning Shadows

Michael McClung, The Thief Who Pulled On Trouble’s Braids

William Saraband, Shattered...

These Books, Those Books

The revisions for Breath of Stone are nearly complete! Folks over at Patreon are getting a sneak-peak, and I’ll have a release date set for everyone within the coming week.

The outlines for the third and fourth novels in the series are growing muscle and flesh, in no small part because of the contributions made by Patreon folks. One patron opted for the reward of becoming a character in the novel, and the ensuing discussion of what role the character would play has providing a strong subplot...

Crista McHugh on Writing, Publishing, and the SPFBO

Award-winning and best-selling author Crista McHugh’s novel A Soul For Trouble is one of ten fabulous fantasy novels in StoryBundle’s Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off bundle. Fellow SPFBO author William Saraband (Shattered Sands) had a few questions for her about the novel, her writing process, and the SPFBO experience:

William: Your book, A Soul for Trouble, is an interesting mix of two big genres: Fantasy and Romance. In your view, how do these two forces complement each other?

Crista: Roman...

Mundane Miscellany

If I haven’t made huge mistakes in the trauma/recovery area, I’m thinking I can wrap up revisions on Breath of Stone by the end of the weekend. I’d like to say sooner, but I’ve perhaps a couple hours a day for it through the next seven days. (When I sell more books, I’ll get to do fewer non-fiction projects…) Then I must draft cover copy, and that’s just… SIGH.

I’ll be posting a couple chapters for patrons over at Patreon, along with this month’s article on injuries and trauma and healing.

Th...