the Author

Category Archives: DAW

November
27
43 Comments

November 2014, State of the Writer

Posted in Mira, DAW, grovelling apology, writing.

First: I want to wish everyone who cele­brates it a Happy Thanks­giving! (In Canada, we cele­brate in October). Second: I’m sorry I’ve been off-line. Tech­ni­cally, I’m still off-line, but I get the sense that people are begin­ning to worry, so I wanted to quickly say: I’m alive. November 2014 has not been the best November on record. I had expected to be finished GRAVE by now — and in part, I was not writing an update because I had hoped that I would be able to say it was (or at least the first draft was) done. It’s almost done. Second, I’ve received some email asking about the situ­a­tion at Harle­quin. For those who now wonder why, my long-time editor, Mary­Theresa Hussey, was laid off, one of dozens in an internal … Continue reading →

July
11
76 Comments

State of the Writer, mid-July 2014 edition

Posted in DAW, Elantra, Essalieyan, Queen of the Dead, writing.

I am writing this from Bris­bane, in its variant of winter — which is kind of like early Fall in Toronto, but with an aston­ishing clarity of sky. It is the perfect weather for walking — it’s very slightly cool, but not so much that a jacket or sweater is required. I’m writing, instead, but on the balcony. I’ve finished Oracle. Or rather, I’ve finished the draft. I am hoping to lose about 20k words, starting from page one, because at the moment it is the longest of the House War books, hands down. But: thirty-one chap­ters, one prologue, one epilogue. Which means I have started today on Grave. Again, and have finally (late, because arg) started Cast in Honor. Because one book has to be going well, and there … Continue reading →

May
25
40 Comments

State of the Author, May 2014 edition

Posted in Books, DAW, Essalieyan, Queen of the Dead, writing, Miscellaneous.

I will start with happy news first: I’m not a fabu­lous photog­ra­pher >.>. I couldn’t make to to the RT conven­tion, but they mailed the award, and I received it yesterday (I had it sent to the book­store because someone is always there during the day). At the moment, it is sitting beside my computer, along with the birthday card I received from DAW (which would be: Sheila Gilbert, Betsy Wolheim, Joshua Starr, Katie Hoffman, and Briar (whose last name I can’t find >.>). This is all good, because: I have — for entirely different reasons, jetti­soned the 55k words of Grave, and started it again. And then again. And then again. So: I am working, and have been working, on this book, which I honestly thought would be finished by now. I have not pulled … Continue reading →

March
18
10 Comments

Writing Process and TOUCH (SPOILERS if you haven’t read it)

Posted in DAW, Queen of the Dead, writing.

A while ago, I said I would discuss Touch, and why it was the book from hell, for me. So, this is that post, and if you are not inter­ested in the nuts and bolts of it, I urge you to close the browser window, because: long. —— I don’t talk as much about the process of writing here as I do in real life. I don’t think it would be possible — I think my fingers would fall off first. But in part I don’t write about it often because I am very, very aware that no two writers work the same way. Ever. Even when I’m talking with another writer and we’re using the same process words, we’re not actu­ally using them in the same way. I don’t want people who … Continue reading →

January
8
13 Comments

TOUCH release day

Posted in Audio books, DAW, ebooks, Queen of the Dead.

In theory, release day for Touch was the 7th of January. I say in theory because this only applies if you are not North of the border. We still don’t have copies at the store. But! The book has begun to make its appear­ances on book­shelves in the wild! So I am posting this a little bit late >.>. Touch is avail­able. I’ve added links for the audio­book and the ebook (the inac­tive links are Kobo and Google, but I’m certain it will prop­a­gate out to both). In a week or so, I’ll post a more active spoiler thread — but this isn’t it :). Someone on face­book (whose name is Joey) posted pictures of Touch. I actu­ally haven’t seen the finished book yet (I may have mentioned that it hasn’t arrived … Continue reading →