Shanna Swendson's Blog, page 306

Tuesday Ponderings

I have completed my morning quest to the Kingdom of the Bull's Eye (aka Target), where I was assisted by many a friendly local. Meanwhile, I have been issued a challenge by the court of the land (a jury summons -- boy, do they love me, every other year, like clockwork, and I always seem to get picked for the jury).

Maybe it's the economy, but I'm finding my shopping trips lately to be both more pleasant and more frustrating. I guess people are really glad to have any job because the staff all see

A Questing We Will Go

I've been thinking some more about that question asked during a panel at ConDFW, about whether there's room for myth and legend in a world where the things of myth and legend are real. For a while, I was wondering why you'd tell stories about things that really existed, and then I remembered that just because my entertainment mostly seems to involve magic, dragons, spaceships and killer robots (and mentally inserting killer robots into stories without them), it doesn't mean that's all there is.

Book Hunting

For those wondering about the contest classifications I mentioned yesterday, here are the definitions the contest is using:

LIGHT PARANORMAL: Lighter in tone; these stories include paranormal happenings as a major element of the plot.
FANTASY: Includes mythical creatures and magical elements.

I think my books could fit in either, but I'm still not sure about the 40 percent of the plot being romance thing. I do think I'll send the book to the World Fantasy Awards, since that's more where I want my

Self Evaluation

I actually accomplished everything on my to-do list yesterday, so go me! However, I was having a scattered, non-focused day, so I'm not sure how much I truly accomplished. I may need to revisit some of the things I did. I do think I'm coming to the end of the preparation phase of The Nagging Idea and need to finally start writing. I have a little more research reading to do to get a good sense of the world I'm dealing with, but at this point I think I know everything I'm going to know about the

Backstory

In a major leap forward in my "get my act together" program, I tackled an item on my to-do list that has been there for months and that I've been procrastinating about because I was dreading it. And it turned out to be just as tedious and challenging as I'd dreaded. But now it's done and I feel ten pounds lighter. I think I even slept better last night.

Because I was inspired by some discussions at the last convention I went to, I'm going to address how to use the information you develop for a st

Book Report: YA for Adults

My "getting my act together" routine is starting slowly. I did get up earlier this morning, but it's taking me longer to get my brain in gear. I suppose that counts as baby steps, or as a t-shirt one of my friends has says, "I'm up and dressed. What more do you want?"

I'm a bit behind on everything so far this year, including reading. A lot of that was due to the fact that I was judging contest books, and I didn't really like the books I was reading, so I was more likely to read them slowly. Ins

Looking for Killer Robots

I never did make it out to that movie or to the errands, but I did some cooking, reading and relaxing, and now that it's March (happy Texas Independence Day!), I think I have to force myself out of hibernation mode and get my act together.

In other news, my Friday science fiction viewing is disappointing me again. After the killer mutiny two-parter on Battlestar Galactica, they've gone all talky again, but this time instead of C-SPAN in space, it's Lifetime in space. By the end of the last episod

Night of the Living Story Ideas

You know how I described the idea center in my brain as like those hoppers they use to pick lottery numbers, with the little balls all being blown and bouncing around until one pops out? Well, that's what was going on in my brain last night, those little balls flying around, popping out and bumping into each other. I haven't been sleeping well all week, and a lot of it is that my brain wouldn't shut up, but last night, it seemed like every idea or idea fragment I've had in the last couple of yea

Even More Convention Advice

First, a couple of additions to yesterday's "how to be a good con guest" post:

Rule #9: Don't introduce yourself or start off talking on a panel by saying that you don't know why you're on that panel.
If you don't know why you're on a panel, the time to ask is as soon as you get your schedule from the convention (usually at least a couple of weeks in advance), and the person to ask is the person who's in charge of programming. You never know, there could be a method to their madness. They may wan

How to Be a Good Con Guest

This is something of a follow-up to my "promoting yourself without being a jerk" post from last week, but getting a little more specific about conventions. If you write science fiction, fantasy, anything paranormal or even mystery, attending conventions is a fun way to promote yourself. By definition, people who go to conventions to talk about things they're into are people who talk about things they're into, which means they're the best people for spreading word of mouth. They're in contact wit