I have a ques­tion. I make longer posts both here and on my Live­Journal. The nature of the posts are slightly different. (I didn’t say it was going to be a short ques­tion, did I? >.>) I’ve been posting on LJ for a number of years. I didn’t actu­ally start the LJ posts to be an author-online; I started them because they seemed like an almost natural offshoot of a prior BBS on which I social­ized with people who were other­wise halfway across the planet. However…when being social, acts of egre­gious self-promo­­tion All The Time aren’t conducive to conver­sa­tion and inter­ac­tion, and there’s always pres­sure to be promoting and to raise aware­ness. This was tricky for me, because I’m well aware that people who are inter­ested in what I have … Continue reading →

Eliz­a­beth asked: Is Cast in Chaos the Dragon Court book? I started to answer this in comments, and then real­ized that it was going to be a long answer, so I’m breaking it out into its own post. First, the quick answer:  Cast in Chaos is not, sadly, the Dragon Court book.  I do have an expla­na­tion, although it doesn’t actu­ally change that answer >.>. Part of the problem with the Dragon Court book is that there has to be textual room for the actual lessons before Kaylin meets the Emperor, because at the moment, she won’t survive.  In order for her to survive as-is, I would have to change the Emperor.  A lot.  And while I could, because he hasn’t yet appeared on the page, my sense … Continue reading →

Aaron asked, in the previous comment thread: Do authors get nervous when their works become acces­sible to the masses? With this book, perhaps less so, consid­ering this is a series work in progress with an avid read­er­ship. However, I can’t help but wonder if you (in partic­ular) get butter­flies the first “opening days” of your releases. Since I was more or less thinking about writing about this very thing, it’s the perfect ques­tion at this time. But first, the usual very strong and very rele­vant disclaimers. I can’t speak for authors in general. No author can. Writing process – from start to finish – is so indi­vidual that what works for one author perfectly will cause another to seize up and word­lock. This is true when writing a novel; it’s … Continue reading →

I’ve posted this over on my Live­Journal as well, so if you read that, you’ve already seen it :). I really like Conflu­ence, and my husband and I will be heading there this coming weekend, the 24th-26th of July. My program­ming schedule for the weekend is: Friday 5pm Oak Why are there so many Twits on Twitter? John Scalzi, Laurie Mann, Michelle Sagara West,Sarah Zettel I really like reading John Scalzi, and I’m plan­ning on being highly amused. Saturday 12pm Salon A Folk­lore and the Roots of Fantasy Alan Irvine, Michelle Sagara West, Susan Dexter, Bill Mayhew Saturday 1pm Oak Is Amazon “Kindling” a New Gener­a­tion of Readers Thomas Seay, Gary Markette, Michelle Sagara West, Jean Gold­strom Saturday 2:00 PM Auto­graphing Michelle Sagara West Saturday 4pm Jr Ste Kaffee Klatsch … Continue reading →

This is a bit late, for which I apol­o­gize, and it’s prob­ably not of interest to anyone who isn’t already attending the conven­tion, but my schedule for the weekend at Polaris 2009 is as follows: Print book vs E‑book E‑book sales have been steadily increasing over the past few years. Will they endanger phys­ical, paper books, or is there room for both? What are the advan­tages of e‑books and print books? Panelists: Anna Hatton, Timothy Carter, Michelle Sagara West, Stephen B. Pearl Sched­uled day/time: Friday 9:00 PM Female super­heroes. The few, the love inter­ests, the female versions of male super­heroes… A few years ago Sequen­tial Tart asked their readers to submit a list of top ten favourite female super­heroes. Rules: Super­heroes, not just comic book char­ac­ters; no female … Continue reading →