writing (Page 12)

I’m plowing through the edits for Princesses In SPACE!!! as hard as I can. The goal is to get through this round of edits, the final “substantive” round, by the end of this month. As of this writing, I’m just shy of halfway through the book — maybe 45 percent of the way — and I’ve cut over 3000 words this time so far. The book was 161000 words before I started, and as you see above, right now it’s under 158000. (By comparison, the first draft was about 181000 words long). I’m finding a lot of passages to tightenDown the rabbit hole….

“When asked, “How do you write?” I invariably answer, “One word at a time,” and the answer is invariably dismissed. But that is all it is. It sounds too simple to be true, but consider the Great Wall of China, if you will: one stone at a time, man. That’s all. One stone at a time. But I’ve read you can see that motherfucker from space without a telescope.” –Stephen King A friend asked me a question about my particular writing process the other day, and it struck me as an interesting question that I haven’t mentioned before, so IDown the rabbit hole….

George RR Martin has some interesting things to say about writing. I agree with him, quite strongly, here. I may have issues with his books, but I think he nails this. I, too, am more of a gardener in this metaphor than an architect. But GRRM notes that it’s important to do some architecture along the way, and I totally agree with that. I won’t outline an entire novel, but I’ll outline a particularly complex scene or sequence of scenes. In general, though, I love to just scatter little plot ideas and notions here and there, and see which things comeDown the rabbit hole….

OK, folks, it’s July, and I’m starting to ramp up my focus on this November’s release of Princesses In SPACE!!! (Not the actual title). Lots of exciting stuff to come in the next few months, but we’ll start with this: Help me choose my author photo for the back cover! Vote in comments, or Twitter, or Facebook, or by Morse Code (I can’t vouch that this last option will work). Here we go! Onward and upward! Zap! Pow!! Share This PostDown the rabbit hole….

Moving is bad for writing. This much is certain. A more pernicious discovery, though, is my recent determination that having a home can be bad for writing, too! Back in my Usenet days, I participated in a group that focused on the writing of fantasy and science fiction. There was a helpful term used a lot then: “Cat vacuuming”, which referred to the habit of a lot of writers to resort to the most obscure of household chores as a way of procrastinating. Chores never stop, they never go away, and there is always something that “needs doing” around theDown the rabbit hole….

I saw this on Twitter earlier…so even though a bunch of you had grammar peeves that you cited in last week’s Wednesday Conversation Starter, I cannot actually call any of you “grammar Nazis”. Share This PostDown the rabbit hole….

Saw this on Tumblr. Wow, this is right up the alley for the cover to Princesses In SPACE!!! (not the actual title). (artist) Share This PostDown the rabbit hole….

For various reasons, the only writing project to which I can devote any time at all right now is Lighthouse Boy (not the actual title), which got stuck in a particular spot because I just couldn’t figure out where to go with it. I tried one thing, and rejected it; then I tried another, and rejected that; then I tried still a third, and rejected that. And each rejection of a particular plot direction meant deleting at least several days’ work — a few thousand words, each time out. It sucked. But, I finally got it figured out. The solutionDown the rabbit hole….