Laura VanArendonk Baugh's Blog, page 50

I’m a Winner! NaNo 2013

So I’m not gonna lie, I was a little worried about putting the widget up on the blog so you could all track my NaNoWriMo progress, but it worked out: I validated my word count at just before 4 AM on Nov 27. Go, me! I still have the resolution of Con Job to wrap […]

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Con Job: “Hello, my name is Laura”

What do you do with that cosplay idea you’ve had forever and you know you’ll probably never actually use? Write it into the novel you’re working on. I’m a cosplayer, or costumer, whichever term you prefer, and I’ve long thought it would be fun to spend a whole convention cosplaying Shadow’s wife Laura from Neil […]

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The Joys of Research – Truth or Dare

Being a writer means you get to look up all kinds of wacky stuff and pretend it’s valid work. While researching for a story, I learned that the party game we call “Truth or Dare” is actually centuries old even in its current form. In fact, per some sources, it might be literally ancient, tracing […]

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Beware of Writers

I’ve said that people just passing through a hotel hosting a writers’ convention must be frequently alarmed. For example, I was sitting in the hall at my last such conference and overheard someone pleading for ideas on how to dispose of a body. “I tried burying it, but that didn’t work,” he said, “and I’ve […]

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Kitsune-bi and Kitsune no Yomeiri – foxfire and fox wedding

In a Western forest, when you see lights drifting over your path and beckoning into darkness, you might call them a will-o’-the-wisp. And you should know better than to follow them. If you should see them in the Dead Marshes, you really should not follow them. If you see these lights in an Eastern forest, […]

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Tiny Youkai

A quick blur of moment drew his eye — a mouse, skimming over the ground? No, a tiny youkai, galloping through the tangled grass, waving stubby arms and piping something in a shrill, unintelligible voice. Kaworu bent toward him. “What?” Metal split the air above his bent shoulder and struck the tree beyond. Kaworu did […]

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NaNoWriMo 2013: Con Job

It’s hard to shift gears; I’ve been completely immersed in old Not-Japan and focused entirely on the upcoming launch for Kitsune-Mochi. But now Kitsune-Mochi is out and I need to think about geeky fandom and murder and amateur sleuthing, because it’s November and I have a mystery to write. I tend to set my own […]

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Betobeto-san, the Footstep Youkai

Happy Halloween! Let’s talk about something spooky. Her footsteps in the litter and debris muffled the forest noises around her, and for a moment she considered humming to further drown the sounds that frightened her. But it would be foolish to handicap herself. She kept quiet, listening to her too-loud footsteps. Twilight made the way […]

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A Behaviorial Look at National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)

So right now a lot of writing friends and I are stocking up on coffee, candy, and Prozac, building our bunkers for National Novel Writing Month (fondly known as NaNoWriMo). Only I don’t like coffee, so I make up for it with chocolate. To each her own. NaNoWriMo is a blitz to write at least […]

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Kitsune-Mochi is here!

So, in case you thought this was just an ordinary Tuesday — nope. Today’s the day that Kitsune-Mochi launches into the world. It’s available in both paperback and ebook, on Kindle and Nook and coming any moment to Kobo and Apple and others. And it looks like Amazon decided to put the paperback on a […]

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