When our youngest daughter discovered she couldn’t actually go to Hogwarts, she took it hard. I’m not sure how other parents would have responded to this minor trauma. I took her out to commiserate over chocolate shakes. She, at least, had an excuse. She was very young. What can I say? I often find myself […]
The Witch originally appeared in The Lerelei Signal but the sight doesn’t maintain a long archive. You can find it here. Witches don’t exist. That’s what Signe’s mother tells her, and she wants to believe her mother. The problem is, no one else does. The Witch was a fun story to write and a familiar
The Witch in The Lorelei SIgnal Read More »
When Nara Flynn was inducted into a magical sisterhood, she imagined herself a bulwark against evil, defender of the vulnerable. Escorting an Imperial tax collector did not live up to those expectations. But Nara discovers she can tell her own story, no matter where she is. Nara is my favorite of my many characters. She is
Nara’s Story in Sword and Sorcery Magazine Read More »
It was beautiful Milwaukee fall day. I was sitting in one of my coffee shop writing offices (Fiddleheads Coffee on Oakland Ave. in Shorewood, WI), fidgeting because I didn’t feel like writing. Checking my email for the (mumble) time, I saw it. An email from Black Rose Writing. “Oh, no.” Yes, I said it out
I have to say, although I’ve received a number of rejections from publishers for Spirit Sight, it hasn’t been as dispiriting (see what I did, there?) as I expected it would be. One reviewer said he read it and showed it to his senior editor, but they ultimately decided it wasn’t right for them. The
Killing your darlings Read More »
“You’re writing about little girls,” she said with a speculative tone, but then with a shrug, she added, “but you do it really well.” That was my writing coach, Kathie Giorgio. We were discussing a scene from Spirit Sight. And it’s true. On both accounts, in my opinion. The story revolves around Minna (13) and
When I started writing, I wasn’t really thinking about a novel. I wasn’t even thinking about short stories. I had no plan, only vague ideas about a fantastical world and a few interesting characters. I wrote random scenes with only loose, thematic connections. Whatever I woke up with each morning, I put down on paper
A natural place to start the blog is the curious question of why I started writing in the first place. What possessed me (and I use that word advisedly) to start writing as I enter the third act of my life? It turns out, I’m not unusual in that regard. A lot of people start
why I started writing Read More »
I’ve been told one of the requirements for being a successful author is to have platform. Apparently, that involves a website, social media presence and a blog, among other, more mysterious, things. Some publishers actually want to see the number of connections you have on social media or the number of people on your mailing
 |
