M.J. Scott's Blog, page 11
November 8, 2015
A free treat for you for the holidays
So a bunch of St. Martin’s Press authors, including me, thought it would be fun to put together a holiday cookbook to giveaway to our readers. We’ve also been doing a facebook loop with giveaways etc which is still going, if you want to enter….my post is here which explains all the info and has the links to the cookbook!
Happy cooking!
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Sunday snippet
Time for a snippet from Shadow Kin (Book 1 in the Half-light City series).
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November 4, 2015
Playing Hard ARC giveaway
Hands up if you think this year is going by way too fast? (Throws both hands in the air.) The only good thing about time speeding by is that it means there’s less than three months until Playing Hard comes out. And happily, a lovely box of ARC’s arrived on my doorstep the other day so it’s time to give some away.
To enter, just comment here or one the Facebook Post if that’s where you’re reading it and tell me something fun that’s happened lately. I have two signed ARCs to give away and the contest is open internationally. I’ll draw the winner in about a week.
PS, if you haven’t pre-ordered Playing Hard and would like to, here’s some links:
Aussie book stores
Rosemary’s Romance Books (Brisbane)
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November 2, 2015
Musings on the muse
Some people hate the term “the muse”. They say that if you’re going to be a professional artist of some sort, you can’t sit around waiting to be inspired. And they’re right. But I do believe in the muse in the sense that I believe there’s a part of me it is that is creative and has the weird and wonderful ideas for books and comes up with the words and it’s a part of me I really don’t consciously control. And the longer that I am a professional writer (and writer does = artist for want of a better word), the more I believe it’s important to give that part of yourself a different outlet, one that’s just for fun. One that keeps your muse’s inner child happy so the adult bit can show up to work each day and get the job done. Even if you’re not a professional artist or someone trying to be a professional artist, I think that’s important. Maybe even vital. Everyone needs the thing that makes them happy.
For me, as I’ve said here before, that feeding of the muse comes from painting/sketching, photography, crafty things, cooking and (in sporadic fits and starts) pottering with my garden. Music is in there too but because I don’t play an instrument anymore, music is more passive. I consume, I don’t create. Well, there’s some car singing and serenading the cats going on but that’s still not that active. I also like to read about creativity and feeding that spark. Today, reading The Cramped a blog that’s largely about keeping notes by hand and notebooks and pens (yes, I am a stationery nerd), I came across a link to this talk about keeping notebooks by Austin Kleon. I’ve read his books Steal Like An Artist and Show Your Work and enjoyed them and yes, in this video he is promoting his new journal book but it’s got some great glimpses into the notebooks and processes of famous artists/writers/scientists and I like what he has to say. So I thought I’d share it here.
He also references a post by Roger Ebert about drawing no matter what your skill level, which you can find here (I liked the post and think it applies to any art form you want to do. Perfectionism is the muse crusher. So crush your inner perfectionist and let yourself suck with joy.)
Anyway, hope you find them as interesting as I did. And I hope you do something to keep the muse happy today. And, just for fun, a pic of my own stack of notebooks–writing, bullet journals, sketchbooks etc–for the last few years.
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November 1, 2015
Sunday snippet
Let’s start the month with a snippet from The Devil in Denim (Book 1 in the New York Saints series).
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October 25, 2015
Sunday snippet
This week, how about some Urban Fantasy. Here’s a snippet from The Wolf Within (Book 1 in the Wild Side series).
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October 19, 2015
Music fix: A bit of Robbie Williams
Busy week this week. I’m off to Adelaide for a two day work trip tomorrow then Thursday night, it’s off to see this guy. Who is always awesome live, so yay!
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October 18, 2015
Sunday snippet
A taste of Lawless in Leather (Book 3 in the New York Saints series).
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October 16, 2015
Story fix: Sarina Bowen
A quick Friday night book rec (or series rec really). Sarina Bowen’s The Ivy Years series which is New Adult set around the fictional Harkness college. Ice hockey, romance, snark and issues. I keep gobbling them up as soon as they come out and wishing she’d write faster. The first book is The Year We Fell Down.
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October 12, 2015
Music fix: 2 cellos
It’s the early stages of writing The Forbidden Heir, so I’m futzing with the soundtrack and playing with my Pinterest board. I think this version of a song I’ve always loved might make the cut.
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