Amy Laurens's Blog, page 99

Okay, I’m Back.

Although those of you who’ve been reading for any length of time know that my version of ‘back’ is always a little sporadic and unpredictable at the best of times: let’s face it: I’m not great at regular blogging. That’s going to apply doubly this year, because – and although this has hit social media, I’m pretty sure I haven’t posted here – Minion #2 is due at the end of May, and in true Minion style this one’s been keeping me pukingly sick pretty much the entire flopping time. RAH.

Also, for...

Short Announcement Re: Books

Just a quick note to say that in the last week, all my self-pubbed material, published under the Inkprint Press label, has migrated from Smashwords to Draft2Digital (and if you’re an author looking to self-publish who hasn’t heard of Draft2Digital, go check them out immediately!! SO much better than Smashwords!!), and everything is now back online.

What this means for you as a reader in practical terms is not much: a few items have received a formatting overhaul (including Liana’s Brooks’s Sev...

Overflowing :P

There is a real HI THIS IS A NEW YEAR AND I HAVE THINGS TO DO post coming soon, cross my heartsies, but for now, this landed in my inbox and amused me greatly, and is entirely appropriate (I feel) for my first day back at work. If you don’t know the original, a) you’re clearly not Australian, and/or b) shame on you. If you fall into either category a or b, see the original (very famous) text here first. Enjoy.

Clancy@theoverflow

I had written him a text

Which I’d sent, hoping the next

Time he cam...

I Don’t Believe In Depressing Fiction (Repost)

I’ve blogging about this here before, but it can always stand a reprise…

Finally, I figured out why it is that I don’t like depressing fiction in any form. I thought about trying to explain this to some of the people that know me in person, but really, it’s a kind of weird, complicated answer and it would sound silly in person.

It might still sound silly written down, but at least here you all expect me to be strange So, blogging it is.

(You do expect strangeness, don’t you? If not, I’m not sur...

The Raven Boys Fanart :)

Whee! I made the arts! (click to embiggen)

Some context. For quite a while now (read: the last few years), I have been sorely lamenting my lack of time for hobbies that I enjoy. Mostly this applies to writing, but I’ve also been itching to get back to drawing and arting. Maggie Stiefvater has been a useful motivator in this regard, mostly because she arts on a regular basis, having been a professional artist before becoming a writer, but also because she holds semi-regular art contests for ran...

Why We Must Have Fun (Repost)

Okay, again with another inaccurate time reference in the opening due to this being a repost, but you get when I mean

Two Fridays ago, I made a promise to you that I would be back this week to contradict myself. Well, ta da!, here I am B-) Insaid post, I discussed the concept of your legacy – your body of work – and the importance of ensuring that everythinginyour legacy isworthyof being there. I threw around a few ways to tell if the book you’re writing is the book for you, and talked about...

Ye Olde Drawer Novels (Repost)

I readthis fantastic articlethe other day about drawer novels. If you have a minute to spare, definitely go read it – and make sure you check out the comments, where people have to give a 25 word (or less) description of a novel they’ve drawered. There are some hilarious ones there – it’ll make you feel better about your own, I promise

I have two questions today: Firstly, what are drawer novels? And secondly, how do you know you have one?

In other words, when and how can you tell that it’s tim...

What Writing Costs (Repost)

I think this is the last repost for a while, but again, obviously, when I start with ‘last week’, that now means ‘several years ago’

A little over a week ago, Liana Brooks posted an article called ‘Good, Better, Best‘. In it, she discussed the various things she would have to do in order to call her day a success – and how guilty she feels taking time away from all those things in order to write.

Another good friend of mine,Hilary, is going through something similar right now: she’s reached t...

Slow Down (Repost)

In a similar vein to the last repost, and again, applicable to a lot more than just writing……..

I was originally going to title this post ‘A New Cure For Writers’ Block’. But really, it’s not a new cure, for either the world in general, or myself. You’ve heard me talk about it before; the cure is simple: listen to your characters.

But it occurs to me that the principle involved has so many more applications, and can be summed up in just one word: listen.

Most of us are not so crash hot at the co...

Look Ma, I Aten’t Ded (Repost)

Okay, so first of all, this post was bizarrely popular on my old blog. Second of all, it can be applied to many, many things other than writing. Hmm, maybe the two are connected. Anyway. Post. Enjoy.

A thought has struck me – as thoughts are wont to do.

Motivated by said thought, I re-examined my writing stats spreadsheet; and the thought was affirmed.

It’s a curious one, somewhat paradoxical. Un-intuitive. And it might not work for everyone.

But wow! It works for me, and I’m glad: it’s made thin...