the Author

Monthly Archives: April 2020

Posted in self-publishing, Short Stories.

And it’s Monday. Today’s short story is Winter. Mike Resnick was editing an anthology about Deals with the Devil, and he wanted a story. So I wrote him a story. I would have bowed out of this one because it was before the birth of my first child and frankly, I couldn’t under­stand why morning sick­ness was called “morning” sick­ness, as I was nauseous all day long, with maybe an hour or two of sort of normal. That hour or two was the time in which I could sit at a computer and write. And it was early days, and because I was young and new, I really didn’t want to make another profes­sional angry. But I liked the story I did write. It’s here. Click the link and you should be able to … Continue reading 

Posted in writing.

Last week, I posted a link to music composed by my oldest son. This week, I am posted a link to music composed by my youngest son. They are very different, both as people and as musi­cians. I used to say, when they were much younger, that the only way the could be more different would be if one had been born female. This is Herald of Dragons, my favorite piece. I have been asked to also link to Usurper of Dragons. They’re paired, in theory; one is the first half and one is the second. I admit that it’s not a link I would have made had I not been told. My first response was: But I like Herald better and I’m posting what I like. But… then I real­ized there’s at least one … Continue reading 

Posted in writing.

Reddit is hosting an on-line conven­tion, the r/fantasy virtual con. If you don’t use reddit, it can be a bit confusing to start. The link above is the mega thread link, and at least on a computer (which is where I’m sitting now), the events are in the sidebar. Links don’t go live until the event starts, but each event is persis­tent (i.e. you can go back and read the various Q&As and the other panels. There are AMAs (ask me anything), which I’ve done one of before; the panel is new, but I believe it just means more people answering ques­tions or riffing off each other’s answers. What happened for me the first time is that they “opened” the AMA, and I went … Continue reading 

Posted in Business.

First: I mentioned else­where that I was listening to some­thing purely instru­mental. I was — I’m listening to it now. And I have a link :). https://soundcloud.com/dekwest‑1/and-then-the-world-drew-breath It was composed by my oldest son. *** A couple of people asked me if I have any hobbies. If I had been asked this ques­tion thirty years ago, I could have said: writing. Writing is my hobby. In some fashion, it still is, but it’s also my job, and that changes the role a hobby has in one’s life. The idea is: if you turn your hobby into your career you will then have a job into which you can pour your passion and love which would be win-win. But it’s a funda­mental struc­tural change in the role of that activity in your life. What I had to struggle … Continue reading 

Posted in writing.

In the previous post I said I did not have covers for the short stories I had not yet self-published. Appar­ently what I lack is brain cells. This caused a round of the usual author-arguing-with-herself. It gets loud, in here. Some people have asked for ways to buy the story, or alter­nately, pay me for the story (and I had to look up ko-fi, because I wasn’t aware of it. I am aware of Patreon, but at the moment, do not have one.) So I have done two things. Well, will have done two things. Hope­fully. First: I have uploaded the short story, in the .99 cent cate­gory on Amazon, Kobo and iTunes. They will go live some­time within the next couple of days ummm, now. The link to the book … Continue reading