Elizabeth Schechter's Blog, page 13

Spring Flowering

Here we are, coming up on the end of the first quarter of 2022. And… I don’t know. Still feels very much 2020-ish in here.

I’ve been saying for years that normal is a setting on my dryer, but really, I’d like some normal at some point. Or at least… something closer to what was normal back in 2019. But… yeah, that’s not happening. 2019 normal is what got us into this 2020-ish limbo. Maybe someday we’ll have a new normal, but it’s still too soon for all the upheaval and the way things are now to f...

This Post is Late.

But it’s here, which counts, I suppose.

I spent most of last week at ICFA (the International Conference for the Fantastic in The Arts), which was wonderful! Take an academic conference, and smash it together with a science fiction convention. Papers presented on animation and video games and fairy tales and movies and just about any other media in which you find science fiction and fantasy. Bring in some luminaries and legends, and finish it all off with a formal award banquet.

Which I suppose ...

Fitting an entire week into two and a half days

Or at least, I’m trying to.

The International Conference for the Fantastic in the Arts starts Wednesday, and I’ve been looking forward to it since i attended the October conference. It’s local, so I’m commuting Wednesday and Thursday, but I’ll be staying on site Friday and Saturday. Which means getting everything I usually do in a week done today, tomorrow, and Wednesday morning. All while trying to make sure I get in some words, finish up some things, do laundry, and pack.

Speaking of words, if...

Reflections

This past weekend, I did something that I haven’t done in a while. I sat down and reread one of my older works. Not because I was researching anything, or checking details for a sequel. Just… read it.

I re-read House of Sable Locks.

It’s a daunting thing to go back and read the second book you ever wrote, and realize that it’s possibly the best work you’ve ever done. That you’ve written twenty-four books since that one, and that none of them have reached the benchmark that led one outlet to call...

Who Let It Be Monday Again?

I’m seriously not ready for Monday, y’all. It’s taken me until past 2:00 PM to even come up with that much.

Focus? There’s no focus today. There is only coffee. Well, there was coffee. I finished the coffee. Now there is only tea. (Chocolate Mint “Like-the-Cookie” Oolong, from Plum Deluxe.)

And… well, I’ve bee thinking about writing. But not actually doing it. I have to get these words down before I get those words down. Right?

So here are these words about those words. Those words from last wee...

We’re Doing What? When?

Some variant on this question was repeated a few times during Boskone on Saturday. Why? Because the Writing the Naughty Bits panel was scheduled for 12 noon.

During the day.

I don’t think I’ve ever done this panel during the daylight hours! Ever!

So, for the first time ever, we began the panel by asking “Is there anyone in the room/Zoom who is under the age of 18? Will you please leave?”

It was a fun panel. Writing the Naughty Bits is usually is a fun panel, but this was also a Circlet Press reu...

So Busy!!!

This past week feels like I’ve been running from pillar to post all week, and yet I’m not sure I have much to show for it. Strange.

I didn’t get as many words down as I’d have liked, but I did get to write some interesting scenes that revealed once again that my characters keep secrets from me, and only tell me when it’s the right time. If you’ve seen “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” you probably remember the scene where Roger slips the handcuffs? And Eddie demands to know why he couldn’t do it before...

Toss A Coin To Your Writer…

And on this gray and rainy Monday, I’m having a slow start. Sort of like my Kickstarter…

You did know about the Kickstarter, right?  To fund all four audiobooks for Swords of Charlemagne, so that we can have the same narrator for all the books?

The Kickstarter has a little over a month left to go, and hasn’t broken 10%. Not going to lie, I’m starting to worry here…

If we don’t make it, there will still be an audiobook for Hidden Things — I’ve already contracted that, and Mark (the narrator) is w...

That was Quick

Tomorrow is February.

How did THAT happen?

Part of it was that last week was a blur — I was sick for a few days of it, and then it was over.  It wasn’t anything major, and I’m fine. But time and words both ceased to exist.

Heir to the Firstborn: The Way Home
(Heir to the Firstborn, book 6)87541 / 150000 (58.36%)

Not quite as many words as I’d have liked, but there was some forward movement. That’s a plus.

Tomorrow, the Swords of Charlemagne box set drops. There’s still time to preorder.

 

...

On a Cold and Frosty Monday.

How cold was it?

My car door froze shut.

Let me repeat that. MY CAR DOOR FROZE SHUT!

In Florida.

As a friend of mine put it, Florida has forgotten how to Florida.

So, while I try to stay warm (Florida houses are not built for this sort of weather), let’s see what’s going on in the weird, wild world of writing!

I have an upcoming promo — the Red Hot book giveaway. It runs the entire month of February over on My Book Cave. You can click the link now, but nothing will be live until next Tuesday.

Al...