Tiny bit of story research: I need 3-4 baila dance moves that you might teach a beginner (name of move + brief description would be super-helpful) I could use a few lines in Tamil of a romantic song — maybe a film song, but ideally one that’s so popular that it might still be sung […]
Tiny Bit of Research Read More »
Delighted to note that the SLF has a new Bay Area chapter. A proper press release is in the works with more details, but I wanted to take a moment to point y’all to their Meet-up group: https://www.meetup.com/Speculative-Literature-Foundation-Sa… Open to all creators, publishers, producers, sellers, or supporters of the speculative fiction genres. Readers, this means
SLF’s New Bay Area Chapter Read More »
This arrived right after my birthday, shipped from India, so I consider it a splendid birthday present. It’s a lovely, thoughtful collection of queer poetry from South Asia, and I am honored to have two poems included (“After Pulse” and “Sex After Kids”). Just beautifully done, and I’m planning to read through it slowly, perhaps
A Splendid Birthday Present Read More »
Good morning! I’m a little slower getting out to the writing shed today, since I had a WorldCon panel leading into the board meeting last night; some board meetings are done by 8:30, but this one went ’til 10. We’re struggling with finding ways the library can support the parents and the schools during e-learning
9:30 — Chapter 6 revised, up to 17,562 words. I’m not sure I love this chapter, but that may just be because I didn’t get quite enough sleep and am feeling a little groggy. Also because it’s kind of an oppressive chapter for my poor protagonist? She is quietly miserable, so maybe that’s seeping out.
I revised two scenes, and then got a little stuck, because I want one of the characters to be a funny guy, and in order to write that well, *I* have to be at least a little funny, and my brain was failing to find the funny. I thought maybe breakfast would help, so I
Me messaging: “Hey, Anand. I’m starting to work on my world some more for the book I’m writing, and I need to come up with a bunch of creatures for it. Pibble-bugs, for example — I know that they’re little, and live in mounds of dirt on the ground, like ants, but I want them
You know, I spent a really long time wrestling with this novel, seriously struggling. The plot made no sense, I was fighting it for years. I had long, frustrated conversations with Kevin in bed late at night, trying to work through the plot problems. I finally finished a (3rd?) draft and gave it to my
I just thought I’d glance at the next chapter, and it turned out that it was in very good shape, just needed a little clean-up, so I started futzing with it and whoosh, there’s chapter 5 done. We’re up to 13000 words now, chugging along. Maybe I can revise ch. 6 today too? Eat something,
7 a.m. About 90 minutes of work; I went back in and re-read the first four chapters, smoothing language, but also making sure to bring out some emotions that a first reader had asked about. I’d meant the character to feel them, but her comments made me realize the emotions hadn’t made it onto the
90 Minutes of Work Read More »
