“Alexa, do you love Mommy?”

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For the last few months, our family has had an Amazon Echo in the house. It’s a (rather elegant looking) microphone and speaker gadget that we had set up in our living room. In it lives the voice of “Alexa.” She’s like Siri on your iPhone, except she’s always on. You don’t need to press a button, you just say, “Alexa, set a timer for ten minutes” and your timer is set. Her range is very strong so from almost any room on our main floor, we can ask her questions. Generally speaking, Alexa has fit into our routine very comfortably. The things Read more…

Update on the year of reading women

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Here’s a two month update on how this project has been going. Since I blogged about it in early July, I’ve read: “Ripley’s Game” by Patricia Highsmith “Fairest” by Marissa Meyer “The Year of Magical Thinking” by Joan Didion “The Girl on the Train” by Paula Hawkins “Wild” by Cheryl Strayed (still underway) Ripley’s Game gave me pause. I love Highsmith’s books and Tom Ripley is an amazing character to follow. But it also made me think that I should focus on books that are not only by women but that are about women. I felt that reading a book primarily about men, even if Read more…

How I Edit

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I’m currently editing The Iron Harvest right now. This is the sequel to The Lead Cloak, for those who don’t know. But editing is hard work, so instead of editing, I thought I would write a post on how I edit my novels. Step One: Finish the book. You can’t edit a novel until it’s finished. Yes, you can edit chapters and paragraphs, but that is usually just tinkering in the margins. You can’t truly know how a single chapter fits into the book until the whole book is done. There are people who say “don’t edit” while you write, but in practice Read more…

I’m reading only women for a year

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Earlier this year, K.T. Bradford published an article with the simple title, “I Challenge You to Stop Reading White, Straight, Cis Male Authors for One Year.” It set a lot of people aflame. “Reverse sexism” and “reverse racism” and such. (Which, I should be clear is a dumb argument.) Neil Gaiman, who is the literal “posterbook” for the article, tweeted his support. And John Scalzi added, “Someone once told me they wanted to read my books but were reading only women for a year. I said, cool, my books will be there in a year.” I didn’t act on the post. I Read more…

The Iron Harvest: First draft is complete!

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It’s always a good feeling to complete the first draft of a book and write those final two words: The End. That’s especially true for The Iron Harvest, which I started nearly two years ago. And The Lead Cloak I started four years ago, knowing some of the events that would happen in this book. So that’s a long time I’ve lived with the book. And there’s still a lot to do! There’s editing, sending to a few beta readers for feedback, and the proofreading and creating the ebook, paperback, and audiobook. My goal is getting all that done by the fall, and Read more…

Move to Tacoma

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I forgot to post this here earlier, but recently my good friend Marguerite started a website called Move to Tacoma. It’s a neighborhood guide, a blog, and full of interesting interviews. Including me! I was the second guest on her podcast and talked about our city’s strengths and our tendency to sometimes try to copy our neighbors (cough, Portland). So if you want to hear me talk about my hometown, you should definitely check it out. I was really happy with how it turned out. And hey, if you really like it, you should think about moving to Tacoma!

Still here.

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I realize, to my chagrin, that it’s been two and a half months since I’ve posted here. As I said in my last post (way back in 2014) I am taking my writing more seriously. The Little Book of Boards is complete in all its forms (Kindle, paperback, and audiobook). I’m also working hard on The Iron Harvest. One of the big signs that I’m within shooting distance of the end when I create a scene-list of everything I know I have left to write. And I created that list just a few days ago! So that’s a very good thing. Read more…

typerwriter photo by flickr user kristinnador used under a creative commons license

2014—The Year in Writing and Other Creative Endeavors

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On this last day of 2014, I wanted to take a moment to look back over the year in writing and creative pursuits. I didn’t accomplish nearly what I’d hope. But there were some nice surprises on here as well. I wrote the first 200 pages of The Iron Harvest, the sequel to The Lead Cloak. I wrote The Little Book of Boards, a board member’s handbook for small (and very small) nonprofits. It will officially launch early in 2015, but the Kindle book is already available. On a lark, I wrote The Queen of Neptune, a Veronica Mars novella. Read more…

I went and did it. I wrote fan fiction.

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I don’t know if you’re familiar with the show, but let me tell you a little bit about Veronica Mars. The show—featuring a high school detective with sass and grit—was surprisingly adult, and surprisingly fun. Somehow it balanced real drama with sharp wit and banter reminiscent of a 1940s noir. Both Mary and I loved it, and we were sad to see it go after its third season. This year, Veronica Mars was revived. The 2013 Kickstarter that financed the movie paid off handsomely—the movie was released widely and renewed interest in the show. An official novel was released that picks up the Read more…