Shanna Swendson's Blog, page 304

Nice Villains?

I got a late start this morning because when I woke up at what turned out to be my usual time, it was really dark, so I thought it was still night and went back to sleep. Instead, it was just very cloudy, which hadn't been forecast. That's the downside to using the sun as your alarm clock.

I'm still on a roll with organizing and getting things done. Generally, my enthusiasm for this sort of thing tends to wane quickly, but if I can keep it going long enough to become a habit, then maybe some of i

My Tricky Brain

I had yet another great day of accomplishment -- another tax-related task (the business side of my taxes is almost done), more cleaning (a big refrigerator purge) and more than 2,000 words of writing. I wrote at night for the first time in ages and that seemed to work, but I'm not yet sure if this is going to be a "night" book.

I know my brain is really getting into it because I had the usual writing-related lack of sleep, where my brain decides to keep going after I stop writing, so I've alread

The Magic of Pen and Paper

I was so, so good yesterday. No, I didn't get the refrigerator decontaminated, but I did a tax-related record-keeping task and even got caught up with that task for this year so far. I got part of the living room straightened. I got a head start on my radio scripts for the week. And I figured out what happens next in the book.

It all came down to the magic of pen and paper. The plan was to make a list of the various things that could happen next, and then maybe one of them would jump out at me. W

Fuzzy Beginnings

Well, either I'm feeling a lot better or I've maxed out on even my sloth tolerance level because I'm all revved up today. I want to be Efficient! And take Action! I want to do my taxes, write, and put on the biohazard suit and clean out my refrigerator!

We'll see how long this lasts.

I finally watched my tape of the Colour of Magic miniseries. It was surprisingly faithful to the books in that it followed essentially the same plot and had most of the same scenes, with a few notable exceptions. But

TV Update

Well, I did not end up in Oz. But we did have sustained winds of more than 25 miles per hour here, with gusts of up to 50 mph. Today's much calmer. I wasn't really planning to go out yesterday, anyway, because I haven't been feeling that great. It occurred to me this morning that I feel the way I tend to feel when I'm recovering from the flu, only without the respiratory symptoms -- I've had the achiness, the tiredness, the lack of appetite and the general fuzzy-headedness, but without the fever

Girlfriends Cyber Circuit Presents April Henry

It's really, really windy -- like, Mary Poppins weather. If you had a sturdy enough umbrella, you could probably go places. However, where you went would be entirely out of your control, as the wind doesn't seem to be going in any particular direction. The birds seem to be having to fight it. A little while ago, one was almost stationary in the air while furiously flapping its wings because it was trying to fly against the wind. And then one came by going with the wind, and I'm not sure it meant

Learning to Write

This may be very basic information for people who are already interested enough in writing to seek out how-to information, but I get a lot of questions about how to become a writer and thought I'd address that topic. Please keep in mind that I am talking about adult commercial or genre fiction here (romance, fantasy, science fiction, mystery, thriller, women's fiction/chick lit, etc.). Literary fiction is a different ballgame, as are non-fiction and children's books.

Writing is the rare career wh

Off the Hook!

For once, the universe smiled on me and did not stick me on a jury. And it really was luck and not anything I did. I was the very last person in my group of potential jurors, which meant that I'd only end up on the jury if they struck almost everyone ahead of me. The lawyers didn't even bother directing questions to me because I was off their radar (though I couldn't resist pointing out a fallacy in something the law student who was handling the questioning for the defense said, which I noticed

The Pre-Jury Dreads

I am having such a Monday. I guess the weather is changing (again) because I have very achy knees. And I have a serious case of The Dreads about tomorrow, when I have jury duty. Again. Because, apparently, actually showing up in this county puts you in the hopper as a live one, so they keep bringing you back, because that's easier than going after the 70 percent (last figure I heard) who don't show up (of course, if I didn't show up, I'd have constables on my doorstep to drag me in). I really, r

Reader Questions

I had an incredibly lazy morning. I slept pretty late and then because I was comfortable and realized I had no urgent reason to get up, I let myself lie around a while. Reason # 4,677 why I love this job. I felt like I earned the rest, given that I wrote more than 2,000 words yesterday and had a grueling (but fun) ballet class last night. I'm starting to really get into this new book, and I reached the first major turning point yesterday. Today should be a good working day, as it's very dark and