Elin Gregory's Blog, page 69

Quietly delighted

The idea of taking book covers with women in impossible poses and reproducing them with men trying to emulate them isn’t new – Jim Hines has been doing it as a fundraiser and whipping in fellow Sci-fi/fantasy authors to help him in the ensemble pieces – but I do like the idea of redrawing comic books with Hawkeye in the place of the distorted females.

Just cast an eye over the Hawkeye Initiativeand join me in having a giggle.

First Wednesday of the month = IWSG!

The Insecure Writers Support Group is – well – what it says on the can really. One day a month we can let out all our fears and frustrations without our readers telling us to put a sock in it or smiling sweetly as they murmur about “First World problems”.

Actually they can if they want, but this is the one day of the month that I’ll feel justified to ignore them.

So – problems.

I’m not writing. Simple as that. My word count has gone up by approx 1000 words since Christmas and that’s no way to wr...

Hump Day is here again

This is my second bash at Hump Day Hook, a weekly event where authors post bits of WsIP or published works or, like me, things they are just stooging around with. Click on the link for the list of other participants.

My paragraphs come from a project that is lodged in my files as “Historical Novel” though actually it’s nothing of the kind. It was inspired by a friend who, on a slow day at work, witnessed me acting out all the different roles from a Georgette Heyer novel. “You should write one...

Richard of York gave battle in vain

And now they have identified the poor soul’s body in a skeleton discovered under a car park in Leicester.

How excited you are about this really depends on your familiarity with British history and, if familiar, where you stand on the whole “Richard was a hunchbacked murderer of children/Richard was an excellent king and good caring uncle much maligned by the devilish Tudors” discussion.

Antony Cher’s Richard was a monster with no redeeming qualities. Shakespeare has a lot to answer for.

Just a l...

Weekend Writing Warriors – that’s how I like to spend my weekends

So here we go. New Sunday and a new Six Sunday substitute with a banner that’s just right up my alley. click on it for th link to the list of other participants:

Mmm, just gorgeous. I’ll be posting twice weekly from now on – 8 sentences on Sundays for WWW and a paragraph or so on Wednesdays for the Hump Day Hook event. I figure 2 little ones a week will be more fun and less guilt inducing than trying, and failing, to get round 200 writers on a Sunday.

To kick off with I’ll be posting excerpts f...

Hump Day Hook – be gentle it’s my first time!

I nearly didn’t do this, because a] I suck and b] I’d forgotten it was Wednesday, but saw it on CC Williams blog. So blame him, ‘kay?

Hump Day Hook requires that paragraph of a WIP be posted on a Wednesday. Other Humpers or Hookers may be found here.

Today I will be starting to share a story I started to write nearly 30 years ago as a deliberate parody of Mills and Boon Regency romance. To be honest, it’s so different from my current writing style that it makes me wince but there you go. People...

Last ever Six Sunday

Yeah, sad innit? And I’ve decided that if it is going to be the very last I may as well stick with Gwion and Cynfal for it. I will continue to make a weekly excerpt post but I might sign up for one of the alternatives. There’s a Wednesday one that looks small and fun, and a slightly one on Saturdays but that’s solely M/M erotica so I don’t see much point. What I might do is do the Regency romance parody on Wednesdays and pirates on Sundays, becaus i’m being worse than usual abut keeping up wi...

Six Sunday

Sunday again. Yes, this means another six sentences drawn from – well, something or another from me and a variety of excellent and rivetting fiction from other authors all over the place. The list of the other authors can be found here. Give it a click and you will be transported to distant planets, faraway places and times, and read about what goes on there. Have a go – it’s fun.

My six? Last week Cynfal and Gwion were in a very compromising position that was likely to get sweaty. Obviously,...

Today in the Comfy Chair – Rebecca Cohen

My guest today in the Comfy Chair is Rebecca Cohen, author of historical and fantasy stories with a male male romance theme. Her first published story, Captain Merric, appeared in Crossbones, an anthology of pirate tales from Dreamspinner, and as you can imagine I was all over that. Since then she has published more short stories, one of which appeared in the UK Meet anthology Lashings of Sauce, her first novel, a fantasy entitled Servitude, and her second novel, The Actor and the Earl, set...

Six Sunday

Sunday is here so I’m making a hasty hasty six post. This might be the last for Cynfal and Gwion for a while so I’ll need to design myself a new Six Sunday drawing. I’m not sure whether to do pirates or something else.

Anyhow – here’s the link and here’s the six continuing pretty much from where we left of last week. If you like romance – sorry – if you like het – um, sorry – if you like flowey language – omg sorry. Click the cut to read more.

Cynfal would have preferred to see what he was doin...