Raven Oak's Blog, page 77
October 18, 2014
Scrivener Saturday #3
One of the most difficult parts of writing is making sure that you use variety in your word choice and avoid redundancy. To help with word choice and word frequency, Scrivener has a text statistics option which will not only give you general statistics about your project, but will tell you word frequency. If you see that you’ve used the word just 100 times in your chapter, that’s not a good sign! (See screenshot below.)
TIP #3: To get to the list, go to PROJECT –> TEXT STATISTICS. Once the scr...
October 17, 2014
Flasbhack Friday: Ship who Sang
In all my years of conventions and conferences, I’ve never caught “Con Crud” –until Geek Girl Con. I’ve got a bit of a head cold this week, so my apologies if my Flashback Friday over The Ship Who Sang rambles a bit or contains errors.
When I read this story as a kid, the enslavement of the disabled went completely over my head. I loved this book! The idea of traveling through space while creating music sang to my heart. When I didn’t want to be a Crystal Singer, I wanted to be The Ship Who Sa...
October 16, 2014
Goodreads & Page Updates
If you’re a Goodreads user, I’ve got a Q&A session going at the moment. Feel free to ask me questions about writing, Amaskan’s Blood, reading, life, whatever! (You can also become a fan of my author page over there while you’re at it or add Amaskan’s Blood to your to-read shelf!)
Just a head’s up that I updated my pages on What I’m Reading, What I’m Writing, and What I’m Watching for those curiously inclined to check. 
Happy Reading!
The post Goodreads & Page Updates appeared first on Raven Oak....
Book Cover Throwback: Windup Girl
This week’s Book Cover Throwback is The Windup Girl
‘s cover art by Raphael Lacoste. I know this technically isn’t an old book, the cover art is an older style and just gorgeous. I love the contrast between the bazaar, the elephant, and the zeppelin & massive city in the background. (BTW, the book is awesome!)
The Windup Girl (Book by Paolo Bacigalupi / Cover art by Raphael Lacoste)
The post Book Cover Throwback: Windup Girl appeared first on Raven Oak.
October 13, 2014
Monday Night Gaming: Geek Girl Style
We spent this past weekend at Geek Girl Con, which was loads of fun! Think of a con truly for geeks (all genders) that doesn’t have a sizable percentage of attendees thinking that “fake” geek girls exist. I saw people of all shapes, sizes, sexualities, nationalities, social anxieties, etc. having a great time, cosplaying, dancing, and gaming. Honestly, I felt more at home here than I did at PAX, more comfortable, too. And not all of that was crowd size.
So instead of Monday night gaming, this...
October 10, 2014
Amaskan’s Blood Cover Reveal
Wanna see something awesome? How about the Amaskan’s Blood Cover Reveal?
I was going to wait until after Geek Girl Con but if you know me, you know I can’t keep secrets worth a damn. Well, if they’re really super important I can, but surprises like this–not so much. (How I managed to keep my husband’s surprise birthday a secret when he turned 30 is beyond me!)
So after much teasing, here is the fabulous cover to Amaskan’s Blood. The cover art is done by the fabulous K. E. Clausen.
Important!
If...Flashback Friday: Amber
Robert Zelazny. Talk about takin’ it back old school. Nine Princes in Amber to be exact–the first in the Amber series.
This series was probably the longest series I read in middle school, having given up on Xanth with Ogre, Ogre (I couldn’t get past trying to read from an Ogre’s point of view. Too much “Me smash. Me drink. Thirsty.” type talk.)
The series is definitely old school fantasy, complete with the stereotypes and tropes of the times (this book was first published in 1970), but the worl...
October 9, 2014
Book Cover Throwback: Dragonlake
This week’s Book Cover Throwback is one of my favorites. Melanie Rawn‘s Sunrunner series has always been a series I’ve enjoyed, and Michael Whelan‘s excellent covers make the series even better. This particular one is entitled “Dragonlake” and served as the cover for The Star Scroll.
Dragonlake © 1998 Michael Whelan
The post Book Cover Throwback: Dragonlake appeared first on Raven Oak.
October 6, 2014
Wherefore art thou writing?
Got a good Monday Night Gaming post coming up later this evening, but for now, I wanted to frown at my depressing “writing progress” meters on the right and chat about the WHY. Amaskan’s Blood comes out in exactly 87 days, which to most people, means nothing. But to an author, it’s often a time of pulling out ones’ hair or crying in panic or maybe all the above.
Writers are fairly introverted, though most successful writers are excellent fakers and liars. Most readers would never know how nerv...
Monday Night Gaming: Rivals
While my husband mostly dislikes Catan (too much luck for him and not enough strategy), he knows that I enjoy it so we play.Catan itself doesn’t work all that well as a two-player game. But recently we found The Rivals for Catan, which is a modifiedCatan made for two players (it even has expansions).
It’s a great variation with 1 flaw. Whoever gets one particular action card tends to win. Normally, when building a settlement, the resources you get are random. But with this over-powered card, y...
