Long Overdue Update

Hey folks! It’s beautiful up here in Oregon today. Hard to believe we had snow last week and today it’s over 60 degrees. The squirrels and the jays are super happy and the neighborhood semi-feral cat is soaking up the sun on my back deck.

Book IV is coming along. I’m on the very last few chapters of the book. Of course, they are the hardest. I have to keep them exciting and fast-paced yet make sure I don’t lose track of the many threads I’ve juggled throughout the rest of the book. This is the final volume in this series, so I also have to make sure all of the plot lines get resolved. Then comes the fun part—the first round of editing. I think I’ve mentioned I’m one of those sick folks who enjoy editing. It gives me a chance to tidy things up and clear up all of the stupid mistakes I made during the many months of writing. Though I work with a basic outline, a lot of things spring to mind during the story’s development. I get these “great” ideas that I then simply must add in and that will sometimes cause something I’ve written earlier to fall apart.

With luck, I can pester my editor to start reading through my many pages by the end of April. Then I’ll edit it again based on her suggestions. Then I’ll send it out in its revised condition to someone who foolishly volunteered (thank you, A.) to go through it, followed by a few beta readers once I fix what she finds. I hope and pray that between all of these eyes they will catch the many words I’ve undoubtedly left out of my sentences. I’ve heard of skim readers but not skim writers. Sheesh.

I hope my little update here finds you and your loved ones safe and happy.

 

Photo by Arnold Dogelis on Unsplash

 

Fantasy as Literature?

Sir Terry Pratchett is deeply missed. He left words of wisdom for us, though. Please enjoy.

Mad Genius Club

I’ve had a long rough day putting in fiberglass insulation, some of which involved slithering on my back over ceiling joists, where it is too tight to fit any other way, and pulling the stuff over my body to get it flush with the frames. Second day of this process, so I am glad to say it is done. I have a little more in the middle to do, but I can kneel or crouch for that… a big improvement. Everything is relative, including relatives. Tomorrow will see that job done forever (until I build something else that needs rock-wool).

So I am cheating and quoting from an interview with one of my favorite authors, Sir Terry Pratchett.

The entire interview is transcribed here, and my thanks go to Patrick Rothfuss for doing this and putting it on his site.

O: You’re quite a writer. You’ve a gift for…

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