Sandra Gulland's Blog, page 2
November 2, 2019
On turning 75, NaNoWriMo and Day of the Dead
Tomorrow I turn 75. That will certainly be a milestone. Which of course made me curious about the word milestone. As with nearly all historical explorations, it proved to be exceptionally interesting. Milestones were originally stone obelisks – made from granite, marble, or whatever local stone was available – and later concrete posts. They were widely […]
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October 7, 2019
On outlining and constructing a timeline/calendar
In preparation for NaNoWriMo‘s blast-through-a-first draft-November, I’m following K.M. Weiland’s roadmap on constructing an outline. I’ve outlined my last three novels, but each time it’s like starting from scratch. In any case, I like learning something new. I began last winter with Weiland’s software, Outlining Your Novel, which is the computer version of her workbook […]
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September 29, 2019
“Crime of the Week” and other charms
Question: What happens when you live in one house for over 40 years? Answer: It gets cluttered with unfinished projects and treasures without a place (including letters and treasures from my parents’ cluttered attic). Question: And what happens when, of an instant, you decide to have the entire first floor refinished? Answer: Everything must get […]
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September 23, 2019
Ta dah! The paperback edition of The Game of Hope
I’m pleased to announce the beautiful paperback edition of The Game of Hope. It’s fresh and fun to have a new cover. From Tuesday, September 24, you’ll be able to buy it at your favorite bookstore and online. The first person to email me* a selfie holding the book will be sent an autographed hardcover edition. […]
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August 30, 2019
“Exceedingly pleasant and healthy” — Discovering the village of Adisham
One of the most challenging things for me in writing a YA novel based on the scant (and most likely apocryphal) stories “Mary of Canterbury” has been figuring out where to place her. I needed to find an old village in the countryside close to Canterbury and not far from the cliffs of Dover. Proximity […]
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May 17, 2019
On beginning (again) with Sarah Waters
In Canada, I have a tall narrow shelf of books—one of many shelves of books I have in our house. This one includes poetry, novels I’m either reading or would like to read, and an embarrassing number of books on writing. I am a collector, apparently, a collector of books on writing. This morning, as […]
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April 29, 2019
A Practical Handbook for … writers?
One of the books I have in San Miguel is A Practical Handbook for the Actor, by Bruder, Cohn, Olnek and Pollack. It was a useful book to consult when writing about actors in The Shadow Queen, but it’s now and again also mentioned as a useful book for writers. This morning, I scanned through […]
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April 14, 2019
Where have I been?
Where have I been? When we arrived in San Miguel de Allende (Mexico) over five months ago, I went on a blogging spree. I was inspired, in part, by the refreshing wonder of fast internet. A month later, I stopped writing blog posts, getting down to the business of writing the keynote speech I was to […]
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January 19, 2019
Champagne and beignets: launching The Shadow Queen into San Miguel de Allende’s next Big Read
I’ve been quite busy this last month preparing for an event launching The Shadow Queen as San Miguel de Allende’s Big Read. (See my recent blog post about it here.) I wasn’t going to be able to be at the event myself,* but I worked closely with Karen Kinney, head of the committee organizing this event. […]
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December 9, 2018
How to write a story logline without going crazy
I decided to try to write a logline for my next novel because I had wandered into mucky territory in working on my plot. I’ve attempted this for several of my earlier novels, but never successfully. I can write a 500-page novel, but a one-sentence summary? This turns my brain into a pretzel. What is […]
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